“It’s not in the Canadian interest,” explains Al Mussell, a prominent Canadian agricultural economist and policy analyst.
Mussell explains that the U.S. wants more control over who can access Canadian retailers directly, so they can export some of their premium products to Canada, writes Anam Khan at CTV News.
“Of course, that’s not how our system works,” he says, adding that allowing it would threaten Canadian processors and complicate the domestic raw milk allocation system.
Canada currently gives dairy import quota access mainly to processors, while retailers are excluded under CUSMA. The U.S. argues that this restriction creates an unfair playing field because retailers are granted access under Canada’s trade agreement with the European Union.