By October 2015, as part of its commitment under the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Canada, under the Harper administration, had agreed to cut back both dairy tariffs and import quotas.Thus, the only reason import restrictions on dairy products are even an issue is because the U.S. withdrew from the TPP. In return Canada kept its SM policies in place with provincial marketing boards still deciding the farm gate price of milk and production quotas, but with some adjustments for opening up the Canadian dairy market by 3.25%. The U.S. had asked for 10%. When the U.S. under the Trump administration withdrew from TPP on January 24, 2017, the tariff-rate quotas (TRQ) on dairy products remained in effect. No U.S. exports ever pay the 200 to over 300% TRQs because US dairy products are never imported to Canada outside the TRQ.
