The United States, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom are dissatisfied with the Canadian dairy market’s protectionist policies. A dispute panel found ‘non-conformities’ in a verdict against the Canadian government over dairy product access, after four allegations filed by New Zealand last year about market access under the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. New Zealand accused the Canadian government of failing to grant enough tariff rate quotas, which directly affect how much access dairy product manufacturers in other signatory nations have to the Canadian market.
The Canadian government has suggested basing these limitations on current market share, while it is unclear what quotas were previously based on. The International Cheese Council of Canada says that this idea is misguided, since it has made small and medium-sized businesses worse off under the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
US dairy groups and government officials have expressed unhappiness with a verdict on Canada’s dairy trade quotas, which do not comply with the USMCA. The US administration says it will continue to fight under the current USMCA, but another nation has withdrawn out of trade talks with Canada. British negotiators have suspended two years of trade talks with Canada, mostly because Canada’s dairy sector refused to compromise on market access for British cheesemakers.
