the department says<\/a>.<\/p>\nThe numbers are different, but the trendlines are the same.<\/p>\n
U.S. dairy exports to Canada increased by nearly 48 per cent from 2022 to 2025, says the Canadian data.<\/p>\n
Why U.S. exporters are still frustrated<\/p>\n
America shipped C$1.06 billion worth of dairy products to Canada last year, says Agriculture Canada. The most significant categories were butterfat and cheese, valued at approximately $500 million.<\/p>\n
![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/305952_web1_NMPF-USMCA-Graphic.jpg\")
U.S. dairy exports have been climbing, with $9 billion in exports last year \u2014 15 per cent higher than 2024. Source: National Milk Producers Federation<\/p>\n
The numbers are positive, but American dairy exporters are unhappy with persistent Canadian barriers to trade, said Tony Rice, senior director of trade policy with USDEC.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe trade data does show a significant increase \u2026 but there are a few elements missing from that conversation\u2026. We hear from our exporters that it\u2019s a nightmare to get quota access into the (Canadian) market.\u201d<\/p>\n
Under Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement, America is entitled to 3.5 percent of Canada\u2019s dairy market. That access is provided through tariff rate quotas (TRQ), or tariff-free volumes of certain products.<\/p>\n
American dairy exporters are struggling to fulfil those quotas because Canadians businesses that are closer to consumers \u2014 retailers, restaurants and food service \u2014 don\u2019t receive any quota, Rice said.<\/p>\n
Most of the quota still goes to Canadian dairy processors, he added.<\/p>\n
Again, the trade data suggests that American dairy farmers are selling more products to Canada and that CUSMA is working, but U.S. politicians aren\u2019t buying it.<\/p>\n
Congress weighs in ahead of CUSMA review<\/p>\n
About 80 members of Congress (Democrats and Republicans) penned a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, urging him to push Canada on dairy trade during the re-negotiations of CUSMA.<\/p>\n
A joint review of the agreement by Mexico, Canada and the United States is formally scheduled to begin July 1.<\/p>\n
The letter from the politicians to the USTR says Canada has \u201ca long history of unfairly restricting imports of U.S. dairy products while (dumping) low-price nonfat milk solids onto the global market.\u201d<\/p>\n
In some positive news, the members of Congress say CUSMA has been helpful for American farmers, businesspeople and workers.<\/p>\n
However, those politicians are convinced that Canada is a bad actor around dairy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe ask that before and during the 2026 review process you work to strengthen (CUSMA) \u2026 and hold Canada accountable to its commitments.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1777188392_34_bell-afe.gif\")
<\/p>\n
You\u2019ll also receive industry and policy information, all in one convenient email delivered right to your inbox!<\/p>\n
One email delivered 6 days a week for ranchers, feedlots, packers and livestock sales operators.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"U.S. dairy exports to Canada have increased nearly 80 percent since 2020. Five years ago, American businesses sold…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32611,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[17,14740,14741,1887,401,30],"class_list":{"0":"post-32610","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"tag-canada","9":"tag-dairy","10":"tag-dairy-plus","11":"tag-exports","12":"tag-trade","13":"tag-united-states"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32610\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Red](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/266528_web1_BDC_01312019_Port_Vancouver_6.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/305952_web1_Image-2026-05-04-at-9.33-AM.jpeg\")
Mexico and Canada are the most important markets for U.S. dairy exports, including US$1.31 billion in sales to Canada in 2025. Source: USDA<\/p>\n