The governments of Canada, Mexico and the United States announced a comprehensive agreement on Friday to remove the Section 232 tariffs, a well as retaliatory tariffs. The agreement also prevents future retaliatory tariffs on U.S. food and agricultural products if the United States reimposes the Section 232 tariffs due to surges in imports of specific steel and aluminum products.

“We applaud the Trump Administration, as well as the governments of Mexico and Canada, for prevailing with a market-principled approach,” said Michael Dykes, D.V.M., president and CEO of IDFA. “With this deal in place, it is now essential that Congress turn its attention to swift ratification of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement to ensure that we are maintaining and growing markets with our most important trading partners, especially in this time of uncertainty for our agricultural economy.”

Last July, Mexico imposed a 25% tariff on U.S. cheese exports in retaliation to the Section 232 tariffs imposed by the United States on Mexican aluminum and steel imports. Mexico is the number one market for U.S. cheese, which was valued at close to $388 million in 2018, but the 25% retaliatory tariffs negatively impacted the industry. Between July and December 2018, volume sales of U.S. cheese to Mexico declined 4%, and the value of U.S. cheese exports declined 8% due to these tariffs.

Read IDFA’s full statement here.

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