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Colombia accuses U.S. of subsidizing milk powder exports

U.S. milk powder is being targeted for countervailing tariffs by the South American government of Colombia, which claims U.S. milk powders are subsidized by the government.

Shawna Morris, with the U.S. Dairy Export Council, tells Brownfield that there’s no basis for Colombia’s complaint. “In a word, politics. It’s as simple as that.”

Morris says a similar effort was made by Colombia’s dairy industry before, but this time, it’s the government that has issued the notice. “It means that the other country is alleging that there are subsidies by the exporting party that are making the product being exported, so in this case, U.S. milk powder cheaper than it should be. That is, of course, baseless. There is absolutely no foundation to these arguments.”

Morris says no U.S. milk powder products receive government subsidies.  She says Colombia launched this case in mid-July, and set a mid-August deadline to file counter-arguments. “The U.S. Dairy Export Council, National Milk Producers Federation, and a number of our members have been busy these last several weeks working to compile our responses back to point out why this case is so unfounded.”

Morris says the U.S. and Colombia have a free trade agreement in place that has been beneficial to both countries.  She says Colombia’s domestic dairy industry cannot meet the demand without importing a significant amount of milk powder.

USDEC and the National Milk Producers Federation commended U.S. Representatives Jim Costa (D-CA), Adrian Smith (R-NE), Jimmy Panetta (D-CA), and Dusty Johnson (R-SD) for sending the Colombian Ambassador a letter criticizing the proposed tariffs.  The letter also says imported milk powder products and domestically produced fluid milk are not interchangeable ingredients in food manufacturing, so the Colombian claim is unfounded.