USMCA

After the sharp increase in the cost of doing business, the Washington State Dairy Federation is hoping the industry can avoid more consolidation.  The Federation is also optimistic about legislation in Olympia to initiate a carbon reduction program for dairy.  In case...

A recent proposal by USDA which involves meat product labelling immediately raised the spectre of COOL, Country-of-Origin labelling, for Canadian red meat sectors.  USDA proposed that ‘only’ meat products derived from animals born, raised, slaughtered, and processed in the United States should be allowed to carry a Made in the USA label.  Back in late 2...

Earlier this month, U.S. Trade Representative’s Office requested technical consultations with Mexico regarding its proposed ban on GMO corn imports from the U.S.  The request is under the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Chapter of USMCA.  Ag Secretary ...

The United States has asked Mexico to start the process of more formally resolving a long-running dispute over Mexico’s planned import ban of GMO corn.  The U.S. Trade Representative’s Office asked Mexico for technical talks under the USMCA trade deal that could lead to more formal dispute settlement talks on the planned GMO corn ban.   “This is a s...

The United States has requested a second dispute settlement panel within USMCA.  At issue, Canada's dairy tariff rate quotas.   "We bring the case our findings and our documentation to the panel," noted Doug McKalip, chief Ag negotiator at USTR.  "The way these th...

Earlier this week, Trade Representative Katherine Tai announced the second USMCA dispute settlement panel regarding Canada’s dairy tariff-rate quota allocation measures.  The United States is challenging Canada’s revised dairy TRQ allocation measures that use a market-share approach for determining TRQ allocations.  Through these measu...

The Senate Ag Committee is preparing to hold its first Farm Bill hearing of the new Congress, focusing on trade and global food aid.  The Ag panel is scheduled to hear from USDA Trade Undersecretary Alexis Taylor, Undersecretary for Marketing Jenny Lester Moffitt and Sarah Charles USAID Assistant to the Administrator.  Taylor ...

Senate Finance Committee Chair Oregon’s Ron Wyden, and Ranking Member Idaho’s Mike Crapo, are calling for the administration to continue to press for strong enforcement of USMCA.  Thursday’s letter to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai says such enforcement will ensure American trading partners live up to their obligations.   Crapo and Wyden sa...

Despite being rescinded in 2015 due to NAFTA concerns, a host of farm groups are working to restore Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling, or MCOOL.  The American Beef Labeling Act was introduced in Congress last year, which looks to reinstate MCOOL for beef and pork.  Fifty c...

Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack said this week there will be no compromise when it comes to the Mexican corn situation.  The U.S. won’t back down or compromise on its stance against Mexico’s plan to ban imports of genetically modified yellow corn.  Vilsack says the Am...