Second USMCA Panel to Rule on Canadian Compliance With Dairy TRQ Rules
The U.S. requested a second dispute panel over Canada's dairy tariff-rate-quota measures, and under USMCA, that panel will automatically be formed. The U.S. says Canada's revisions to its TRQs after it lost a case "impose new conditions effectively prohibiting retailers, food service operators, and other types of importers from utilizing TRQ allocations. Through these measures, Canada undermines the market access it agreed to provide in the USMCA."
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U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said Jan. 31: "Although the United States won a previous USMCA dispute on Canada’s dairy TRQ allocation policies, the Canadian government’s revised measures have not fixed the problem."
The two countries tried to resolve the matter through consultations, with the last round happening Jan. 17.
Canada's International Trade Minister Mary Ng said, "Canada is disappointed that the United States has requested a dispute settlement panel.
"Canada will continue to defend our supply management system and the market access that Canada and the United States have agreed on. We will stand firm against attempts to renegotiate agreements during the dispute settlement panel process."
The Canadian government said the panel's findings probably will come eight to 10 months from now.
The announcement came one day after the chairwoman and ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Committee wrote to USTR to ask it to press a second dispute settlement case. “There has been no improvement in Canada’s TRQ administration despite the USTR’s continued engagement," said Sens. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and John Boozman, R-Ark.