Dairy farmers express concern over trade war
Trump repeats attack on Canada’s supply management system
OTTAWA— Canadian dairy farmers say they’re concerned about Donald Trump’s “attacks” on their industry, as the U.S. president once again singles out Canada’s supply management system in an escalating trade war.
Trump took to Twitter Saturday to accuse Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of being “dishonest and weak” at the G7 summit in Charlevoix, Que., where leaders discussed the U.S. decision to slap steep tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum.
Despite the U.S. government’s justification that the tariffs were necessary for “national security,” Trump said the move was a response to “270 per cent (tariffs) on dairy” — an apparent reference to the system of quotas and tariffs that support the Canadian dairy, poultry and eggs sectors.
It is not the first time a U.S. president has taken aim at supply management, but the show of derision sent jitters through industries that benefit from the decades-old trade barriers. Pierre Lampron, president of the Dairy Farmers of Canada, criticized Trump’s logic that Canadian protections hurt American farmers.
“Canadian dairy farmers and their families are concerned by the sustained attacks by President Trump with an aim to wiping out dairy farmers here at home,” Lampron said, adding that 10 per cent of the Canadian dairy market is open to imports without tariffs, compared with just three per cent in the U.S.
In a bulletin to clients Monday, Scotiabank suggested it’s “disingenuous” to use the 270 per cent tariff figure to “besmirch Canada’s overall trade policies.”
“Trump is quoting a figure that applies to milk that ac- counts for a tiny fraction of Canada’s $33 billion of goods imported from the United States each month,” the bank wrote in its analysis.
Meredith Lilly, a Carleton University professor and former trade adviser to prime minister Stephen Harper, said Trump’s very public focus on the supply management system may make it harder for the Trudeau government to consider concessions.
But Lilly pointed out that Trump’s “genuinely held” hostility towards supply management is not new — in fact, she said, the opposition was shared by former U.S. president Barack Obama.
“Having said that, tweeting about Canadian tariffs on dairy is a convenient data point for the president, because Canada’s supply management system is much different than ... virtually all other aspects of our trading relationship,” Lilly told the Star in an interview.