Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue described a potential tri-national agreement on a new NAFTA as the start of a domino effect in rewriting U.S. relations with trading partners around world. “I would love to have a deal today with Canada to put NAFTA back together,” said Perdue during a C-SPAN interview in which he called for reform of Canada’s supply-management system.”
Asked if the Class 7 price system, part of supply management, will be eliminated, Perdue said, “I think it should be and I think it will be gone. We have been very clear with that in my conversations with the ambassador.”
The U.S. dairy industry has pressed for more access to the Canadian dairy market. A particularly sore point was the relatively recent creation of the Class 7 price tier, which covers ultra-filtered milk, a high-protein product used in making cheese. President Trump has criticized specifically the Class 7 tariffs. Some analysts have suggested that concessions on dairy would open the door to agreement on NAFTA. As part of other trade pacts, Canada has allowed more foreign access to dairy consumers.
Perdue said the administration intended, once NAFTA is resolved, to work on new agreements with other countries, including the European Union, Japan and South Korea. “The whole theory is what I would call the domino effect,” he said. Mexico reached a tentative agreement with the United States in late August. “We are encouraged by the solution with Mexico and we are hopeful that Canada will come along.”
To watch the C-SPAN interview, click here.