Trump is complaining about Canada’s cheese tariffs. In 2018, he was bragging about cheese.
Key Achievement: Increasing Dairy Market Access
Please note a Key Achievement of the USMCA treaty that Trump proclaimed was the “Best trade deal in history.”
The United States, Mexico, and Canada concluded negotiations for a modernized and rebalanced trade agreement on September 30, 2018. The new United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA) will advance United States agricultural interests in the most important markets for American’s farmers, ranchers, and agribusinesses. This high-standard agreement opens new markets to expand United States food and agricultural exports and support food manufacturing and rural jobs.
All food and agricultural products that have zero tariffs under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) will remain at zero tariffs. Since the original NAFTA did not eliminate all tariffs on agricultural trade between the United States and Canada, the USMCA will create new market access opportunities for United States exports to Canada of dairy, poultry, and eggs, and in exchange the United States will provide new access to Canada for dairy, peanuts, processed peanut products, and a limited amount of sugar and sugar containing products.
Key Achievement: Increasing Dairy Market Access
In addition to the current exports of dairy products that the United States makes to Canada of $619 million in 2017, Canada will provide new tariff rate quotas exclusively for the United States. The agreement includes market access gains for the following American products:
Fluid Milk: 50,000 metric tons (MT) by year six of the agreement, growing one percent for an additional 13 years. Eighty-five percent of the quota will be reserved for further processing.
Cheese: 12,500 MT by year six of the agreement, growing one percent for an additional 13 years. Fifty percent of that amount will be available for any kind of cheese, while the remainder will be for industrial cheeses.
Cream: 10,500 MT by year six of the agreement, growing one percent for an additional 13 years. Eighty-five percent of the volume in year one will be reserved for further processing.
Skim Milk Powder: 7,500 MT by year six of the agreement, growing one percent for an additional 13 years.
Butter and Cream Powder: 4,500 MT by year six of the agreement, growing one percent for an additional 13 years. Eighty-five percent of the volume in year one will be reserved for further processing, which will be reduced to 50 percent by year five.
Concentrated and Condensed Milk: 1,380 MT by year six of the agreement, growing one percent for an additional 13 years.
Yogurt and Buttermilk: 4,135 MT by year six of the agreement, growing one percent for an additional 13 years.
Key Achievement: Canada’s Milk Class Pricing System
Six months after entry into force of the USMCA, Canada will eliminate milk price classes 6 and 7. Canada will ensure that the price for skim milk solids used to produce nonfat dry milk, milk protein concentrates, and infant formula will be set no lower than a level based on the United States price for nonfat dry milk.
Key Achievement: Expanding Poultry and Eggs Market Access
In addition to the $600 million worth of poultry and egg products that the United States exported to Canada in 2017, Canada will provide new tariff rate quotas for the United States as follows:
Chicken: 47,000 MT increasing to 57,000 MT by year six of the agreement, growing one percent for an additional 10 years. The United States will still be eligible to export up to 39,844 MT under Canada’s World Trade Organization (WTO) tariff rate quota regime.
Egg and Egg Products: 1.67 million increasing to ten million dozen eggs and egg-equivalent products in year six of the agreement, growing one percent for an additional 10 years. Canada has agreed to allow 30 percent of import licenses for shell egg imports to be granted to new entrants as well. As with chicken, the United States will still be eligible to export up to 21.37 million dozen egg and egg-equivalent products under Canada’s WTO tariff rate quota regime.
Turkey: Canada has agreed to provide the United States and other country members of the World Trade Organization access equivalent to no less than 3.5 percent of the previous year’s total Canadian turkey production. This will allow the United States to export additionally up to 1,000 MT of turkey products each year for the next 10 years than the current access and potentially more thereafter.
Broiler Hatching Eggs: The United States continues to maintain current access as agreed to under Canada-US Free Trade Agreement (CUSFTA) of 21.1 percent of Canada’s domestic production.
Myth-Busting Often Repeated Trumpian Trade Lies
Please consider the Inaccurate list of Canadian tariffs circulates amid US trade war (lead image).
“You guys don’t realize already the tariffs that Canada places on the United States,” the speaker in a video posted to X on March 4, 2025 says. “Take a look at those numbers and see if that’s fair.”
The user goes on to display a list of fees Canada supposedly imposes on American products, including tariffs exceeding 200 percent for dairy, poultry, sugar and peanut butter and levies above 100 percent for tobacco, rice, vegetables and fish.
Variations of the list — sometimes referencing products such as cars, televisions and aluminum — have circulated since at least late January 2025 on Facebook, Instagram, X and TikTok, after Trump first threatened a 25 percent tariff on Canadian goods entering the United States.
Trump has also claimed Canada and the US have an unequal trade relationship that needs to be rectified
The highest supposed tariffs discussed in the posts were dairy and poultry products, which some users claimed were charged at over 200 percent. Clark explained that Canada has supply management regulations for these types of products, meaning that after an import quota has been reached for a specific exporter, they are charged a much steeper fee. These measures are allowed under USMCA.
Disputing Trump’s Claims
Brookings does an even better job of debunking Trump’s nonsense in A Trumped-up charge against Canadian dairy tariffs
President Trump and his Administration have based their public spat—and that is putting the term mildly—with Canada on that country’s “270 percent” tariffs on U.S. dairy imports. Some facts would help to put this claim in perspective.
First, Canada’s props up its dairy industry by using both import quotas and domestic production quotas. As part of this system, Canada has negotiated import quotas with each of its major trading partners. The U.S. has obtained a favorable quota and, as a result, exports more dairy products to Canada than it imports from Canada. In 2017, Americans sold $792 million in dairy products to Canada, while Canadians sold $149 million in dairy products to the U.S., creating a tidy trade surplus for the U.S. of nearly $650 million.
Second, Canada only imposes high tariffs on imports above the quota, not on all the dairy products U.S. producers sell to them. For example, Canadian tariffs on dairy products within the quota are often zero and never more than a few percent. Above the quota, tariffs on dairy products range from 200 percent to over 300 percent. As a practical matter, no dairy products are sold to Canada outside the quota, so no U.S. exports really pay a high tariff.
Third, in addition to subsidizing domestic dairy production, the U.S. also uses a quota system to elevate prices for many farm products, including dairy.
Fourth, Canada’s purchases of U.S. dairy products are a tiny fraction of the nearly $300 billion in goods Canada buys from the U.S. Until Canada announced its retaliatory tariffs against the U.S. after the Administration imposed tariffs on their aluminum and steel exports to us, Canada’s average trade-weighted tariffs were 0.8 percent, half the 1.6 percent trade weighted average for the U.S.
Canada had already agreed to cut back both dairy import quotas and tariffs as part of its commitments under the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Thus, the only reason import restrictions on dairy products are even an issue is because the U.S. withdrew from the TPP.
In the end, either the President isn’t aware of all the facts about Canadian dairy tariffs and how they could have been ended had his administration stuck with the TPP, or like his misuse of trade deficit statistics to justify import restrictions, he is using another poor justification for offending one of our closest allies.
So Much Winning
There is so much winning in USMCA that I hardly know where to start other than Trump’s statements.
Trump Statements on USMCA
- August 21, 2023: The highly anticipated Des Moines Register Poll of Iowa Voters is just out: “DONALD TRUMP HOLDS COMMANDING LEAD In First Test of 2024 Republican Caucus Field.” Remember, I got the Farmers 28 Billion Dollars from China, the USMCA Trade Deal (& many others!), saved Ethanol, Social Security, and MediCare, & got Iowa “First In the Nation” status. Nobody else could have done this. Anyway, I’m at 51%, a 31 Point lead over “farmer hating” DeSanctimonious, with the others gaining on him, but not on me!
- February 15, 2020: RT @WhiteHouse: President @realDonaldTrump’s USMCA will have a tremendous effect on GDP!
- January 30, 2020: BIGGEST TRADE DEAL EVER MADE, the USMCA, was signed yesterday and the Fake News Media barely mentioned it. They never thought it could be done. They have zero credibility!
- January 29, 2020: USMCA is a cutting edge state of the art agreement that protects, defends and serves the great people of our Country. Promises Made, Promises Kept!
- January 29, 2020: USMCA is a massive win for American manufacturers and auto workers!
- January 16, 2020: One of the greatest trade deals ever made! Also good for China and our long term relationship. 250 Billion Dollars will be coming back to our Country, and we are now in a great position for a Phase Two start. There has never been anything like this in U.S. history!
- December 10, 2019: America’s great USMCA Trade Bill is looking good. It will be the best and most important trade deal ever made by the USA. Good for everybody – Farmers, Manufacturers, Energy, Unions – tremendous support. Importantly, we will finally end our Country’s worst Trade Deal, NAFTA!
- December 19, 2018: Mexico is paying (indirectly) for the Wall through the new USMCA, the replacement for NAFTA! Far more money coming to the U.S. Because of the tremendous dangers at the Border, including large scale criminal and drug inflow, the United States Military will build the Wall!
- December 13, 2018: I often stated, “One way or the other, Mexico is going to pay for the Wall.” This has never changed. Our new deal with Mexico (and Canada), the USMCA, is so much better than the old, very costly &, anti-USA NAFTA deal, that just by the money we save, MEXICO IS PAYING FOR THE WALL!
- November 30, 2018: Just signed one of the most important, and largest, Trade Deals in U.S. and World History. The United States, Mexico and Canada worked so well together in crafting this great document. The terrible NAFTA will soon be gone. The USMCA will be fantastic for all!
- October 3, 2018: Mexico, Canada and the United States are a great partnership and will be a very formidable trading force. We will now, because of the USMCA, work very well together. Great Spirit!
- October 2, 2018: “USMCA Wins Praise as a Victory for American Industries and Workers”
- October 2, 2018: Great reviews on the new USMCA. Thank you! Mexico and Canada will be wonderful partners in Trade (and more) long into the future.
Flashback October 1, 2018
Late last night, our deadline, we reached a wonderful new Trade Deal with Canada, to be added into the deal already reached with Mexico. The new name will be The United States Mexico Canada Agreement, or USMCA. It is a great deal for all three countries, solves the many deficiencies and mistakes in NAFTA, greatly opens markets to our Farmers and Manufacturers, reduces Trade Barriers to the U.S. and will bring all three Great Nations together in competition with the rest of the world. The USMCA is a historic transaction!
Does anyone have any questions regarding the greatness, importance, and historic nature of USMCA to farmers and manufacturers?
It was such a great deal that Trump thanked Mexico and Canada. Notably USMCA is “Good for everybody – Farmers, Manufacturers, Energy, Unions – tremendous support. Importantly, we will finally end our Country’s worst Trade Deal, NAFTA!”
It “greatly opened markets to our farmers” and it even paid for the wall! And it will bring three great nations together!
Mercy! Who could possibly see things any differently?
I happen to have a Q&A on that, starting with a question to me about cheese.
The first question below is from a reader on my blog. The subsequent Q&A explains what you need to know.
Q&A on the Greatness of USMCA
Q: Is 250 percent on cheese fair?
A: It’s not 250 percent. It’s tiered, and embedded into USMCA.
Q: Who signed USMCA?
A: Trump
Q: Who is responsible for this arrangement?
A: Trump
Q: Didn’t Trump brag that USMCA was the best trade deal in history?
A: Yes
Q: Is Trump a good deal maker?
A: Apparently not, by his own admission
Q: Will Trump honor the USMCA deal ratified 89-10 by the Senate and signed by himself?
A: No
Q: Will Trump honor any deal he signs?
A: You tell me, but no one can expect that
Q: Is there a massive lost in trust that Trump will honor any deals he signs
A: Yes
Trump may not honor any deal he signs. That is the bottom line.
Defense spending, drugs and other Trumpian lies and distortions have nothing to do with this.
Silliness Over Defense Spending , Cheese, and Drugs
Here’s a conversation I had on X.
Questions are all by a reader on X, answers by me.
Q: What is the current Canadian tariff rate on US cheese?
A: It tiered – and Trump signed the structure in USMCA. @cpaforerp
Seems like Trump does not like his own “Best Trade Deal In History”. And deals he signs are worthless. No one can trust Trump to honor any deal he signs. There’s a cost to that.
Q: Do we trust Canada to spend 2% of GDP on defense? There has been no “cost” for them on reneging.
A: Did Canada sign a deal promising Trump that it would spend 2% on Defense? Seems I missed that one. If Trump wanted that as part of USMCA, then why didn’t he put it there?
Q: Lester Pearson negotiated the set up of NATO in 1949. The 2% of GDP agreement was established in 2014. Obama was President and Harper was PM.
A: Show me a senate signed deal [between Mexico and Canada] and I will agree.
Note that Trump cancelled the Paris accord and I agreed on the basis the Senate never ratified it. In fact, I cheered.
For discussion please see Hooray! Trump Cancels $4 Billion in US Climate Fund Pledges
In this case, all I ask is a signed and ratified deal between the US and Canada on defense spending. There is none.
NATO Defense Spending Is a Guideline
Canada never committed to two percent defense spending. In the NATO agreement Two Percent is a Guideline.
The 2% defence investment guideline
In 2014, NATO Heads of State and Government agreed to commit 2% of their national Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to defence spending, to help ensure the Alliance’s continued military readiness. This decision was taken in response to Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea, and amid broader instability in the Middle East. The 2014 Defence Investment Pledge built on an earlier commitment to meeting this 2% of GDP guideline, agreed in 2006 by NATO Defence Ministers. The 2% of GDP guideline is an important indicator of the political resolve of individual Allies to contribute to NATO’s common defence efforts.
Another Absurd Conversation
X Reader: And I’m sure you’ve never changed your mind on anything in your life.
Me: I have changed my mind many times. So what? Have you ever revenged on a signed deal? I will assume not, me neither.
People use the stupidest rationale possible to support Trump.
I have never broken a signed deal, ratified 89-10 by the US Senate. Trump has.
This brings up another interesting topic. Trump now threatens to leave NATO. Since Congress funds NATO, Trump will not succeed unless Congress agrees.
Trump cannot be trusted to honor any US-signed treaties, even those he personally signs.
The Key Point
Since many people are truly dense, I need to repeat …
Q: Will Trump honor any deal he signs?
A: You tell me, but no one can expect that
Q: Is there a massive lost in trust that Trump will honor any deals he signs
A: Yes
Trump may not honor any deal he signs. That is now an established fact.
Defense spending, drugs and other Trumpian lies and distortions have nothing to do with the established facts. From the realistic viewpoint of allies, Trump broke his own treaty and is likely to do so again.
Spare me the sap about national emergency lies. There is no national emergency on energy, steel, or cheese.
If Trump wanted defense spending or drugs to be in USMCA, then he should have put them into USMCA. Since USMCA expires in June of 2026, Trump did not have to wait long to modify the treaty.
The ultimate irony is all the bragging Trump did about how great the USMCA deal was.
Lesson from Mark Twain
Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example. Mark Twain, The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson (1894)
Nonetheless, true supporters simultaneously believe USMCA was a great deal for the US and the same deal is now a bad deal for the US.
There’s a phrase for that, two actually. The second is TDS Type II (willingness to praise or defend Trump, no matter what he says or does, the opposite of TDS). Figure out the first. It should not be too hard.
Any further questions?
Related Posts
March 3: Welcome to the Recession, Trump Hits Canada and Mexico with 25 Percent Tariffs
“No room left” for negotiations says Trump.
And now US Commerce Secretary Lutnick seeks negotiation. Fancy that.
March 5: The Tariff Clown Show Continues with Another One-Month Extension for Autos
Another one-month reprieve will solve as much as the last one-month reprieve. For those keeping score, nothing.
March 6, 2025: Trump Makes Imports Great Again With Two New Record Trade Deficits
The Census Department reports two new records trade deficits in January.
We have not yet felt the hit on small manufacturers do to extremely unwise tariffs.
For discussion, please see How One Small Business Owner Is Coping With Trump’s Tariffs
Fifty-four percent of small businesses polled said that tariffs would negatively affect their companies, while just 11 percent said they would benefit.
Please read the above post and multiply it by tens of thousands of small businesses.
March 6, 2025: Trump Pares Tariffs on Mexico and Canada, Whipsaw Madness Continues
The 24-hour tariff yo-yo continues. The market isn’t amused with “economic warfare”.
This self-inflicted pain from this economic madness will be huge.
Addendum
I added snips from an excellent Brookings article above further debunking Trump claims.
And deep in converted limestone mines are 1.4 billion pounds of surplus cheese. This started in the 1970s, during former President Jimmy Carter’s era and his promise of giving farmers a break.