Australia and New Zealand Dairy Leaders Would Support U.S. WTO Action on Canada

Dairy industry leaders from Australia and New Zealand say they would support the U.S. in potential World Trade Organization action against Canada. Leaders from both nations say they would support President Donald Trump if he included the WTO in a trade dispute over a milk pricing scheme by Canada that is harming U.S. dairy farmers. U.S. dairy groups say the issue will hurt the entire U.S. dairy industry, and President Trump said in Wisconsin this week that the existing rules were unfair. New Zealand Trade Minister Todd McClay told Reuters in an email his government was assessing the “WTO-consistency” of Canada’s dairy industry policy, and had raised concern with the Canadian government. Malcolm Bailey, chairman of the Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand, said his organization was working with his foreign ministry to gather information for a possible WTO complaint. The dairy industry in the European Union, which has two-thirds of Canada’s cheese import allocation, signed a letter last September along with Australian, New Zealand, U.S. and Mexican peers, demanding the start of a WTO dispute, as well.