A trio of Senators from Wisconsin and NY are asking the Trump Administration to act against trade barriers restricting USA dairy farmers product access to Canadian markets.
But while the president is accusing Canada's dairy industry of being unfair to its US counterpart, some in the Canadian industry say it's nothing more than words.
It is also a state that is feeling the effects of Canada's decision to impose import taxes on ultra-filtered milk, a protein liquid concentrate used to make cheese. Other provinces soon followed suit.
"We urge you to exhaust all potential avenues to bring Canada into compliance with its trade commitment and establish dependable trading conditions for USA companies exporting to Canada", the senators wrote.
Trump launched his broadside after a brewing trade spat that has seen the USA dairy lobby accuse Canada of "systemic disregard" of its trade obligations, while the Canadian industry accused its American rival of "scapegoating".
The governors of Wisconsin and NY sent Trump a letter Tuesday urging him to take action.
"Of course, having a USDA secretary confirmed and having a US trade representative confirmed would be very, very helpful".
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"If these multi-generational farm families can not find another market for their milk, they will be forced to sell their cows and go out of business", Brancel said. "Taking on even one farm helps", state Ag secretary Ben Brancel said in a statement.
The letter follows on other Cuomo administration efforts urging the Canadians to rethink their dairy trade policies, including a letter sent by the governor to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last fall that apparently fell on deaf ears.
They say the Trump administration plans to take steps to protect the integrity of the USA steel industry. "We stand ready to support your efforts to address this urgent dairy issue". South Dakota Dairy Producers Association Executive Director Roger Scheibe says they share the same concern about Canada's milk pricing scheme and are hoping the administration takes action.
Rhetoric around NAFTA and Buy American/Hire American is part of a bigger protectionist narrative out of the US administration that the Canadian government has been trying to counter.
The Canadian counterargument is pretty simple. "But now we're hitting a flawless storm with the Canadian pricing structure, the spring flush and there's so much milk being produced nationwide and being shipped to Wisconsin that we have more milk that our processing facilities can handle".
Canada's envoy to Washington has shot back at criticism by President Donald Trump and USA milk producers, saying the facts don't support a charge that the Canadian dairy industry is to blame for the woes of some American farmers. "The Wisconsin people are trying to find an enemy - when in reality, the problem they have is that they're overproducing".
The report says, "The U.S. dairy industry produced record levels of milk in 2016 (212.4-billion pounds) but at the same time has been seeing a decrease in exports".
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