Trade Minister Mary Ng says panel rules ‘clearly in favour of Canada’ in dairy imports dispute with U.S.

Ottawa declared a decisive victory Friday over the United States in an ongoing dairy-based trade dispute that has U.S. milk producers accusing Canada of “playing games” with its largest trading partner.

A dispute resolution panel largely rejected the U.S. Trade Representative’s latest set of contentions, which essentially accuse Canada of intentionally bottlenecking imports of American dairy products.

It’s the USTR’s second offensive in three years against how Canada allocates tariff rate quotas, or TRQs – how much of certain dairy products can enter Canada at lower duty levels under the terms of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

The conclusions of the first dispute resolution panel, released in December 2021, were largely a triumph for the U.S. side, although International Trade Minister Mary Ng called it more of a split decision.