The second round of negotiations on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) concluded Monday in Mexico City after officials from the United States, Canada and Mexico conducted discussions on several topics related to updating the 23-year-old trade pact. Michael Dykes, D.V.M., IDFA president and CEO, traveled to Mexico to engage with U.S. negotiators, urging them to “do no harm” with respect to the U.S. dairy industry’s trade partnership with Mexico and to address the negative impact of Canada’s new pricing policies and restricted markets.

Dykes represents IDFA on the U.S. Agricultural Policy Advisory Committee, which advises the Secretary of Agriculture and U.S. Trade Representative  on trade agreements and other agricultural trade issues. Over the course of the five-day meeting, he participated in several briefings and met with U.S. congressional staff and with U.S. negotiators.

In the meetings, Dykes stressed the importance of maintaining the U.S. dairy industry’s export market in Mexico. He also called on negotiators to address Canada’s new milk pricing policies that undercut skim milk powder prices on the international market, as well as to eliminate steep tariffs to permit greater U.S. dairy market access to Canada.

Dykes also plans to attend the third round of negotiations in Canada, scheduled for Sept 23-27 in Ottawa.

Read more about IDFA’s position and priorities on NAFTA.  

For more information, contact Beth Hughes, IDFA director of international affairs, at bhughes@idfa.org.