Response from Dairy Farmers of Canada on the U.S. starting positions for the re-negotiation of NAFTA

Our initial reaction is that the US objectives remains fairly broad, and there isn’t anything new. We will not comment further at this time. Canada’s own consultation on the re-negotiation of NAFTA is ending tomorrow, July 18. Canada’s demands for the re-negotiation of NAFTA negotiations should be made public by the Government of Canada sometime thereafter. DFC is currently finalizing its submission to the consultations, but DFC’s position should not come as a surprise. Dairy should be excluded from the re-negotiation of NAFTA. This is in line with the unanimous position endorsed by delegates at DFC’s Annual Policy Conference in February.

• Dairy wasn’t part of the first NAFTA agreement, and there is no valid new evidence to support that dairy be discussed in this round of discussions.
• The U.S. has a positive and growing dairy trade balance with Canada.
• Canada’s dairy policies respect international trade laws.
• The United States is only looking to Canada’s market because they have overproduced. When too much milk is produced, prices crash, and the end result is job loss, loss of income for farmers, and in some cases, farmers having to shut down their farms.
• Canada’s market is already full of Canadian milk, and is not a solution for overproduction.
• Canada’s total dairy exports represent less than the combined total exports of the states of Wisconsin and New York – our dairy exports are a tiny fraction of the world market, and are far too small to impact it in a significant way.
• Under supply management, Canadian dairy farmers have chosen to focus on serving our domestic market.

DFC will continue to advocate that Canadian farmers must not be negatively impacted as the consequence of any trade agreement.