Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Elise Stefanik announced that, following her continued advocacy, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is taking further action to address Canada’s breach of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) agreement and ensure proper access to the Canadian market for Upstate New York dairy farmers.
The USTR announced that it is filing a new request for dispute settlement consultations with Canada in order to expand the scope of the second USMCA dairy dispute to include additional elements necessary to ensure that Canada fully complies with its USMCA obligations.
This follows Stefanik pointing out and calling for action after Canada breached its commitments under USMCA by unfairly administering dairy tariff-rate quotas in a way that harms American dairy farmers.
“I am proud to announce that, following my advocacy, the USTR is taking additional action to ensure our dairy farmers will receive well-deserved access to the Canadian dairy market," Stefanik said. “Our dairy farmers work hard to provide delicious and nutritious products for our communities and deserve the expanded market access they were promised as part of USMCA. I will continue to work to ensure Canada fully abides by its dairy market access commitments, and I will continue to advocate for results for Upstate dairy farmers.”
In May 2021, Stefanik sent a letter to United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai, encouraging the USTR to fully enforce dairy provisions in the USMCA. Following Stefanik’s advocacy, the USTR announced in January 2022 the agency established a Dispute Settlement Panel to consider Canada’s failure to comply with dairy tariff-rate quota (TRQ) provisions in the USMCA. January’s decision resulted from the creation of this panel. In March 2022, Stefanik called on USTR Trade Representative Katherine Tai to reject Canada’s proposed changes to their dairy tariff-rate quotas under the USMCA.
