The Biden administration initiated a dispute process against the Canadian dairy industry, triggering the formal dispute mechanism of the new US Mexico Canada agreement for the first time.The US dairy industry has long complained regarding policies in Canada hold back sales in their market, and the issue has won the support of many members of Congress who represent the major dairy-producing states. Canada’s dairy protection was one of the key sticking points of the negotiations over the USMCA which was agreed to in 2018, and the US dispute amounts to a formal accusation that Canada isn’t living up to the terms of the agreement.“Launching the first-panel request under the agreement will ensure our dairy industry and its workers can seize new opportunities under the USMCA to market and sell the US products to Canadian consumers,” stated Katherine Tai, the US trade representative, and President Biden’s elite trade advisor, on Tuesday.The US alleges that Canada has used a complex system of tariff-rate quotas that sets aside a share of the dairy market exclusively for Canadian dairy processors and that the system is in violation of what Canada agreed to in 2018.