Canada must make concessions on dairy to get a new North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), three senior United States officials said over the weekend.
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue demanded an end to Class 7 milk pricing, which marketing boards introduced to stem the flow of imports of diafiltered milk from the U.S.
He said Canada has encouraged overproduction and flooded export markets for milk proteins used in cheese and yogurt, hurting U.S. dairy farmers.
Republican Tom Reed, a member of the influential House ways and means committee, urged Ottawa on Sunday to allow U.S. farmers more access to its market to assuage U.S. President Donald Trump, who has consistently complained about this issue as talks have dragged on.
Larry Kudlow, Trump's chief economic adviser, said dairy is the major stumbling block.
“Milk, dairy, drop the barriers, give our farmers a break and we can fix some other things,” Kudlow said.
Negotiations are ongoing with Canada insisting that the disputes-settlement provisions of the existing NAFTA be maintained and that protections for Canadian content in the entertainment industry remain.
The deadline now appears to be the end of the month.
