‘Progress’ Can Be Made on US Dairy Trade with Canada: Trump Adviser

President Donald Trump can “make progress” on lifting trade barriers for U.S. dairy products in Canada, a member of his campaign agriculture advisory team said.The Trump administration could open up the market for U.S. dairy in Canada if the White House moves to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Chuck Conner, president of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, told an audience at the Consumer Federation of America's National Food Policy Conference April 12. “I think you can see the opportunity here as we look at our trade policy and re-evaluation, update, whatever you want to call it, of making some headway with the Canadians and their dairy policy.” Conner said.Conner said that he will not be joining Sonny Perdue, the president's nominee to lead the USDA, at the department. Conner was one of the name some reports suggested could be USDA Deputy Secretary.Dairy is not included in the free trade provisions of NAFTA, and Canada's supply management system restricts imports of cheese, butter, milk and other dairy products from the U.S. That has raised angst among U.S. dairy farmers, who say the restrictions violate existing trade agreements and are exacerbating a glut of milk in the U.S. A coalition of dairy trade groups including the National Milk Producers Federation and the US Dairy Export Council recently urged the Trump administration to fight back against what they said were Canada's protectionist trade policies.Regarding country-of-origin labeling (COOL), Conner said that while the Trump administration will focus on a U.S.-centric, buy-American trade policy, that may not include reestablishing COOL labeling rules for beef and pork. “Does that translate into country-of-origin labeling? I'm not sure, I kind of doubt it,” Conner said.