With Canada, Beef and Ag Labor, August was Not a “Recess”

The term “August recess,” used to describe the traditional slow period when lawmakers and federal workers alike escaped Washington’s heat and humidity, was a misnomer this year. From critical trade negotiations with Canada, to a frustrating development on beef tariffs, to the ongoing effort to make ag-labor reform real, August has been one of the year’s busiest months for the dairy industry in Washington. (And that’s without even mentioning the Senate version of the farm bill, which is in temporary limbo after a failed committee vote.)

We’ve been keeping up with every development, speaking out and acting as needed on behalf of our members. Here’s a rundown of key issues, and how we’ve stood on them.

On Canada. With USMCA talks with Canada broken down and the potential for retaliatory tariffs in both directions hanging over both economies, including several dairy products, the U.S.-Canada trade relationship is at an impasse, at least for the moment. This may be surprising to many who don’t closely follow the traditionally friendly relationship – but in dairy, this showdown has been decades in the making.

Under the USMCA trade agreement negotiated during the first Trump term, Canada committed to providing meaningful additional duty-free access for U.S. dairy exports through a series of tariff-rate quotas (TRQs). Canada’s administration of those TRQs has repeatedly resulted in chronic under-use, reducing the benefit for American dairy farmers. Canada also continues to exploit loopholes to sidestep USMCA on dairy protein exports.

NMPF and our partners at the U.S. Dairy Export Council have long urged the White House to make fixing this a priority. The Trump team has consistently called out Canada’s disregard for its USMCA commitments on dairy market access. Canada needs to stop looking for workarounds and instead sit down in good faith to resolve these long-standing dairy issues. Canada’s retaliation against U.S. goods is disappointing, but all it’s doing is forcing the U.S. hand. A cool-down would be welcome; but must include a dairy market access fix. The objective should be for both our countries to prevent increased friction and build on the progress made through weeks of negotiations.