Wednesday, August 29, 2018

Canada to make dairy concessions for NAFTA

Canada is prepared to offer the United States the same dairy-industry concessions it has given in the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal, according to the Globe and Mail.

The Toronto-based newspaper cited Canadian officials close to both the Canada-U.S. negotiations and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Canada is also prepared to bow to U.S. demands related to diafiltered milk, the Globe and Mail reports, but does not indicate what that means.

It might mean giving up pricing milk low enough so Canadian processors can make diafiltered milk at prices competitive with U.S. imports.

If that’s the concession, it would avoid the likelihood of a challenge to the World Trade Organization where Canada has lost another challenge on cross-subsidization via low prices for milk used to make export products.

However, it’s not clear that the concessions will be enough to satisfy U.S. President Donald Trump who has repeatedly railed against Canada’s supply management for dairy.

It’s the only issue he has cited in talking about a resumption of negotiations with Canada following the announcement earlier this week of a deal with Mexico.