U.S. dairy industry celebrates tariff rollback

Jim Mulhern, CEO of the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) and Tom Vilsack, CEO of the US Dairy Export Council, produced a joint press release this week cheering the roll back of tariffs. The US, Mexico and Canada announced an agreement in which the US will roll back metal tariffs for both Canada and Mexico, in return for which Mexico will drop its tariffs on dairy products exported to Mexico. The agreement also expands access to the Canadian market for US dairy products.

Mexico is the largest buyer of US dairy exports at $ 1.4 billion in 2018. Our southern neighbor had retaliated against US metal tariffs with a 25% tariff on US dairy products, mostly cheese. Vilsack and Mulhern stated in the press release that they hope this agreement will build momentum toward Congressional ratification of the USMCA trade agreement.

Former Secretary of Agriculture Vilsack and Mulhern stress finding common ground with China is important to ending China’s tariffs against US dairy exports to China. The press release can be found here.