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Tai living up to enforcement promises

A dairy trade policy specialist says Trade Ambassador Tai moving forward with a dispute case against Canada less than a week after leaders in the U.S. Mexico Canada Agreement met sets precedence for the Biden administration.

Becky Rasdall with the International Dairy Foods Association tells Brownfield this is the first dispute settlement case the U.S. has filed under the new agreement and it lives up to the ambassador’s promise to make enforcement a priority.

“For her to take an enforcement action on a new agreement with a friendly trading partner so soon into her time in office is telling,” she says.  “I think it sends the signal to U.S. trading partners that we do care about the terms of our agreements and our WTO obligations and that we’ll be more active in pursuing those.”

A conclusion on Canada’s compliance is expected by the end of the year which Rasdall says could result in either opened access for the U.S. or retaliation.

Rasdall says she’s hopeful the dispute will correct what the USMCA was supposed to: increased access to Canada’s market through increased dairy tariff rate quotas.