Schumer Tells USTR Canadian Barriers to Dairy Should Be NAFTA Priority

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., visited a dairy cooperative in upstate New York to emphasize his desire that Canadians change their dairy supply management system as part of a NAFTA deal. Schumer, who traveled to Cayuga Milk Ingredients on April 16, said the cooperative lost $30 million in skim milk powder sales the day after Canada's Class 7 system was implemented. He also released a copy of a letter to the U.S. trade representative as part of the publicity around the event. In the letter, he said, "As I have expressed to you many times, I strongly believe that we should not miss this opportunity to protect our dairy producers from Canada’s recent predatory trade practices. ... This Class 7 system is likely a violation of Canada’s World Trade Organization (WTO) commitments, but addressing it quickly through NAFTA renegotiation is needed, rather than waiting for years for a WTO determination."

Protecting the income of Canadian dairy farmers is politically sensitive, just as farmers' interests are a sensitive political matter in the U.S., and Canada has pointed to the dairy supply management issue as one of the sticking points in NAFTA negotiations (see 1710180024).