That media talks about baby formula shortage w/o knowing whats going on is amazing. Trump's USMCA restricted imports of formula from Canada, so we imported no formula from Canada in 2021, leaving us vulnerable to domestic shock. The shock hit when Abbott plant was contaminated.
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) May 14, 2022
The United States has baby formula shortages. Canada makes baby formula and would want to increase its exports to the United States and please a top trading partner.
Too bad the dreaded, horrible, terrible USMCA (CUSMA) made this impossible.
From Fortune magazine:
"As part of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), negotiated by President Donald Trump to replace the North America Free Trade Agreement in July 2020, Canada agreed to impose an additional surcharge of $3/kg if the total volume of its global formula exports—not just exports to the U.S.—broke a certain threshold. That threshold is currently set at 40,480 metric tons for the current "dairy year" of August 1 2021 to July 31 2022.
"The new duties seemingly closed off Canada as a source of infant formula. The U.S. imported a grand total of zero tons of baby formula from its nothern (sic) neighbor in 2021, yet has shipped tons of domestic formula into Canada. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S.-manufactured infant formula made up the largest component of U.S. dairy exports to Canada in 2021, accounting for 22% of all northbound dairy trade."
The crybaby toddler who somehow had a lot of power was rather vindictive toward Canada on multiple fronts. We didn't factor in baby formula.
Abbott accounts for nearly half of the domestic production of the U.S. baby formula market. The U.S. makes 98% of its formula domestically.
That is a problem with a February recall of Abbott Nutrition formula contaminated with bacteria from its Sturgis, MI factory. 4 infants became sick with bacterial infections; 2 of them died.
The irony is that United States standards are much more lax than Europe or Canada in terms of the quality of the formula. This isn't a matter of Canada or Europe formula meeting those standards because their formula exceeds the U.S. standards.
Podcast: Sarah Palin, Michelle Obama, and the politics of breastfeeding (BalanceofFood.com)
The United States lags behind the Western World on maternal elements, such as leave. Improved standards for women might encourage more breastfeeding. As much as we (and our sibling blog, BalanceofFood.com) endorse breastfeeding, there is a reality for baby formula that needs to be addressed.
Cheap pizza comes to Canada but at what cost
Canada milk producers threatened with invasion of cheaper American milk
Canadian milk holds a higher standard on milk, not allowing recombinant bovine somatotropin (rBST), an artificial growth hormone allowed in American milk. The anger by the crybaby toddler is over this difference in milk. If this were a baby formula shortage in Canada, importing formula from the United States would be a concern over bringing rBST into Canada.
Canada secretly passes heavily flawed CUSMA during the COVID-19 corornavirus pandemic
NAFTA 2.0, er, USMCA is a nightmarish trade deal for Canada
The party of the crybaby toddler is the party that is trying to take advantage of the political ramifications of the baby formula shortages. As little as we think of Canadian journalism, U.S. journalism is the grand leader of cluelessness. Kurt Eichenwald being a grand exception as noted in the top of the column.
Balanceoffood.com Canada food policy coverage
Trade deals can be tricky when all involved parties are acting in free will. The CUSMA/USMCA trade talks were a shambles and the complete opposite of an ethical trade deal process. Innocent people get hurt when a trade deal goes this poorly.
Would Americans get an abortion in Canada?
We noted that Americans might drive to Canada to get an abortion. We can't condone, under any circumstances, the illegal importation of any product from Canada into the United States. We can point out that they sell baby formula in Canada.
American mothers who rely on baby formula should be able to access quality products without a monopoly and heavy-handed political tactics.
Twitter capture: @kurteichenwald
photo credit: Dairy Farmers of Canada
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