Mulhern: Dairy Industry Needs USMCA, Now

Ask dairy leaders, locally and nationally, and they’ll tell you that the industry needs not only the USMCA to be passed, but the 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum to be removed.  Those tariffs they will contend negate any USMCA benefits.  National Milk Producers Federation CEO, Jim Mulhern said, the faster USMCA can be implemented, and the tariffs removed, the better.

“We got to get this done, and we got to get these retaliatory tariffs, section 232 tariffs lifted, I think to get USMCA passed, but we want both things together.  Mexico is our most important market $1.5 billion worth of dairy products from the U.S. go into Mexico each year, and Canada, is another one of our important markets, we’ve made important changes in dairy policy with Canada in this deal.”

Mulhern added it looks like Canada and Mexico will not finalize the replacement to NAFTA until the section 232 tariffs are removed.

Meanwhile, Mulhern said the U.S. dairy industry is looking at other ways to improve economic conditions during these challenging times.  He noted in 2014, NMPF supported dairy supply management and advocated for its inclusion in the farm bill.  However, not everyone was on board at that time.

“Fast forward to 2018 and we did get unity, we got agreement within the producer community, on improvements in the dairy safety net, and we got processors to support that as well.  So, we got nationally unity on that program.  Now I would note that some of the folks who are advocating supply management today were nowhere to be found in 2014 when we were trying to get that policy done.  We knew these tough times could be coming.”

Mulhern added he doesn’t think Congress today would be willing to pass supply management, adding that’s why trade deals such as USMCA are so important.

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