He made it clear that it’s on his hit list in a new round of
trade negotiations with Canada and Mexico.
What’s not so clear is whether he was particularly angry
about recent marketing board moves to displace milk ingredients U.S. suppliers
were shipping to Canadian processors.
The Canadian processors have stopped importing after the
milk marketing boards reduced prices for milk that goes into the products the
processors were making with the imports.
What is clear is that U.S. dairy farmers have been angry
about Canadian supply management for a long time because it includes high
tariffs on U.S. milk and dairy products.
The U.S. dairy interests are now headed by Tom Vilsack who
became their chief executive officer after being U.S. Agriculture Secretary in
former president Barack Obama’s administration.
Vilsack is well informed on the issues and has also been a
strong critic of Canadian supply management.
At the very least, the U.S. will be insisting that Canada
make the same concessions it was prepared to make during the negotiations for
the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Trump pulled the U.S. out of that deal; what remains to be
seen is whether the remaining partners will strike a deal.
