WATERTOWN, New York (WWNY) – A dairy dispute is settled between the U.S. and Canada – expanding the trade market for local farmers.
A panel reviewing the agreement between the U.S., Mexico and Canada said Canada was breeching trade commitments.
In the pact, Canada expanded its dairy market to U.S. exports. But, the nation was only bringing in a certain amount of shipments at the agreed-upon lower tariff rate.
Shipments beyond that amount had a high tariff rate, making the American product too expensive to compete with Canadian products.
Now that the issue is settled, Canada will have to change its tariff-rate quotas by February 3.
“It increases the demand for U.S. dairy products and the more you increase that demand, the more that ripples across the entire dairy industry in the United States,” said Jefferson County Agricultural Coordinator Jay Matteson. “It’s a very beneficial trade destination for us. We want to have that relationship, but we have to make sure Canada is abiding by the agreement.”
Matteson said that even during this dispute, Canada was the United States’ number three trade partner for dairy products.
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