branex / Depositphotos.com
Ted Vander Schaaf, an Idaho dairy farmer and member-owner of Northwest Dairy Association, testified today before the Senate Finance Committee on the importance of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement to the U.S. dairy industry and the improvements needed for the agreement to fully deliver for American dairy farmers.
Vander Schaaf serves on the board of directors for the Northwest Dairy Association, the cooperative that owns Darigold, and the Idaho Dairymen’s Association, both of which are members of the National Milk Producers Federation and the U.S. Dairy Export Council.
“Strong, enforceable trade agreements are critically important to the U.S. dairy industry. The United States exported approximately $9 billion in dairy products in 2025, including a record 559,000 metric tons of cheese last year through November,” said Vander Schaaf at the hearing.
Mexico and Canada are critical markets for U.S. dairy, purchasing $3.6 billion in American dairy products in 2024 and accounting for 44 percent of total U.S. dairy export value. USMCA is vital to those trade flows. However, Canada’s ongoing, blatant disregard of key USMCA obligations has undermined the agreement, and Mexico’s strong collaboration and partnership with the U.S. has yet to extend to its intellectual property office, as it pertains to common food names.
Vander Schaaf highlighted Canada’s continued manipulation of its dairy tariff-rate quotas and its circumvention of USMCA dairy protein export disciplines, which have limited U.S. producers’ ability to compete in Canada and other markets. He also noted that while Mexico has been a great partner, it has still not fully met its commitments to protect common cheese names such as “parmesan” and “feta.”
USMCA mandates a “joint review” in 2026, offering the U.S. government an opportunity to negotiate solutions to the current shortcomings in dairy trade.
National Milk Producers Federation news release
Comments