New York/Ottawa | Reuters — Dairy remains a sticking point between the United States and Canada as the countries prepare to sign a new North American trade pact this week, according to four sources familiar with the matter. U.S. objections to Canada’s protected internal market for dairy products was a major challenge facing negotiators during […] Read more
Dairy issue nags as U.S., Canada prepare to sign trade pact
U.S. dairy farmers get little help from Canada trade deal
Madison, Wisconsin/St. Claude, Manitoba | Reuters – Minnesota farmer Paul Fritsche can no longer afford health insurance as he struggles to sustain a dairy farm that has been in his family for nearly a century. With U.S. milk prices in the fourth year of a slump due to chronic oversupply, Fritsche, 58, is unsure whether […] Read more
U.S. milk producers ask government for more aid, citing $1 bln tariff impact
Washington | Reuters – U.S. milk producers asked the government to increase aid payments to the industry to offset losses from foreign tariffs, saying dairy farmers have lost more than $1 billion in income since May. The administration of President Donald Trump in late May announced tariffs of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 […] Read more
Dairy farmers unhappy after meeting Trudeau on USMCA
Ottawa | Reuters — Canadian dairy farmers met Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday to discuss his politically-risky move to open up the protected domestic market to U.S. industry but complained he had not given them details about compensation. As part of the talks to complete the new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) trade deal, Canada […] Read more
Outrage, acceptance greet Son of NAFTA
Responses from Canada’s farm sectors range from acceptance to anger as concessions and market access granted under the successor to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) come into clearer view. Dairy: ‘Who needs an enemy?’ The new agreement, announced Sunday and dubbed the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) by the U.S. government, is expected to […] Read more
Trudeau takes Quebec dairy gamble to preserve big trade deal
Ottawa/Montreal | Reuters — With his political future at stake, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will mount a charm offensive to placate dairy farmers who say he sold them out in order to win approval of a continental trade deal. Compounding Trudeau’s challenges in the influential province of Quebec, where many dairy farmers are based, […] Read more
Canada, U.S. deal saves NAFTA as trilateral pact
Ottawa/Washington | Reuters — The U.S. and Canada forged a last-gasp deal on Sunday to salvage NAFTA as a trilateral pact with Mexico, rescuing a three-country, US$1.2 trillion open-trade zone that had been about to collapse after nearly a quarter century. In a big victory for his agenda to shake up an era of global […] Read more
Canada, U.S. reach deal to update NAFTA, sources say
Ottawa/Washington | Reuters — The U.S. and Canada reached a deal to update NAFTA and keep it a trilateral pact with Mexico, beating a midnight deadline with agreements to boost U.S. access to Canada’s dairy market and protect Canada from possible U.S. autos tariffs, two Canadian sources with direct knowledge of the talks said on […] Read more
Canada not making concessions needed for NAFTA deal, says U.S.
New York | Reuters — Canada is not making concessions needed to reach a deal with the U.S. for a trilateral NAFTA pact and is running out of time before Washington proceeds with a Mexico-only agreement, a top U.S. official said on Tuesday. The administration of President Donald Trump has recently begun increasing the pressure […] Read more
NAFTA talks grind on with little sign of deal
Washington | Reuters — Canada and the U.S. showed scant sign of being close to striking a deal on revamping the trilateral NAFTA that underpins US$1.2 trillion in annual trade, as Canadian sources played down talk of a U.S. quota on autos. Canada says it does not feel bound by a U.S.-imposed deadline for the […] Read more