DelBene Leads Bipartisan Effort Urging USTR to Hold Canada Accountable for Dairy Trade Violations

Today, Representatives Suzan DelBene (WA-01), Claudia Tenney (NY-24), Tony Wied (WI-8), Jim Costa (CA-21) led a bipartisan group of 74 members of the House of Representatives in a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, urging him to hold Canada accountable for failing to meet its dairy commitments under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). The letter calls on the administration to use the upcoming 2026 USMCA review process to address these longstanding concerns.

During USMCA negotiations, Canada agreed to expand market access for U.S. dairy by creating new tariff-rate quotas (TRQs) reserved exclusively for American producers. Instead, Canada has undermined the agreement by allocating most TRQs to Canadian processors, who often have no incentive to import, rather than to retailers, restaurants, or food service providers who have the need and desire for high-quality, lower-cost U.S. dairy products.

Canada has further distorted the market by offloading artificially low-priced nonfat milk solids onto the global marketplace, putting downward pressure on prices for U.S. producers. Despite repeated U.S. challenges, Canada has refused to uphold their commitments, making the 2026 review a critical opportunity to strengthen the deal and protect American dairy producers. The letter also highlights the strong gains made with Mexico under USMCA and stresses the importance of preserving that progress.

"As a bipartisan group, we remain unified in our belief that the upcoming 2026 review of USMCA represents a critical opportunity to deliver to American dairy farmers, producers, and exporters the market access that was originally promised when the agreement entered into force," wrote the Members. "USMCA raised the bar for what trade agreements could be, yet Canada has still failed to uphold its dairy commitments. This review is the appropriate mechanism to strengthen enforcement, close loopholes, and ensure that the benefits envisioned under the agreement are fully realized."

The effort is strongly supported by U.S. dairy producers.

"USMCA raised the standard for what a trade agreement could be and promised new opportunities for U.S. dairy farmers," said Gregg Doud, President and CEO, National Milk Producers Federation. "Unfortunately, the Canadian government has continued to evade its dairy trade obligations, and U.S. dairy farmers are not seeing the full benefits USMCA intended. We commend Representatives Tenney, DelBene, Wied, and Costa for championing this effort and working with the Administration to hold our trading partners accountable."

"USMCA is the most important free trade agreement for the U.S. dairy industry, and it must be renewed, said Michael Dykes, President and CEO, International Dairy Foods Association. "But ongoing trade concerns with Canada and Mexico must also be rectified as the renewal is being considered. Collaboration between Congress and the Administration is critical to maintain the agreement's meaningful progress and finally deliver the market access promised to U.S. dairy exporters. IDFA applauds this proactive approach by Members of Congress to help ensure that the review process results in a stronger, fairer USMCA."

The full text of the letter is available here.