Canadian trade negotiators may be facing Agriculture Secretary Tom
Vilsack who is rumoured to be heading to the U.S. Dairy Export Council when the
Obama administration ends and Donald Trump’s team takes over.
Tom Sukar, chief executive of the dairy organization for the last 22 years, resigned at the end of the year.
Canada’s dairy-industry supply management system is a
high-priority target for U.S. negotiators and they could get a couple of kicks
at the can. The U.S. Dairy Export Council will be in the front lines.
One kick at the can could come at the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations
if Trump reverses his election-campaign stand and decides to participate.
The other will come if Trump, as promised, makes a move to
scrap or renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement.
During the Obama administration, Vilsack and the rest of
Obama’s team maintained their criticism of Canada’s supply management for
dairy, but never had much to say about supply management for poultry.
