Note: Single-source report; awaiting corroboration.
According to a proclamation by the President of the United States, Canada treats U.S. commerce less favorably than that of certain other countries regarding dairy trade, specifically cheeses, under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) and the Canada-European Union (EU) Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).
Canada maintains tariff-rate quotas (TRQs) for cheese imports that allow duty-free access up to certain quantities, applying customs duties on amounts above these thresholds. The eligibility criteria to access these TRQs differ between USMCA and CETA, disadvantaging U.S. dairy commerce as retailers can use the cheese TRQ under CETA but not under USMCA.
This discrepancy means the U.S. is denied benefits granted to the EU for similar dairy products, reportedly impeding access for U.S. dairy producers and exporters to the Canadian market, leading to potential lost sales or revenues.
Invoking section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930, which allows the President to impose duties to counteract discrimination or unequal treatment by foreign countries, the proclamation finds that Canada discriminates against U.S. commerce through these TRQ allocation measures and therefore imposes additional duties on Canadian dairy imports.