In late October the federal government created a couple of working groups with the goal of helping Canadian dairy and poultry farmers adjust to the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. There may be a simpler way to help Canada’s poultry and dairy farmers adjust to trade, says an economist […] Read more
Tag Archives USMCA — page 4
Dairy processors demand long-term planning from feds
Canada’s dairy processors said the federal government has to develop a long-term plan for the sector after chipping away at its profitability through trade agreements. Officials appeared at the Senate’s agriculture committee last week as part of the committee’s study of how the value-added sector can be more competitive. Dairy Processors Association of Canada president […] Read more
Trade certainty not expected to strengthen Canadian dollar
Even with more certainty around trade with the United States, Canadians shouldn’t expect to see the dollar flying in value. “It’s hard for me to see the Canadian dollar gain value against the U.S. dollar in the short-term, unless the Bank of Canada totally revises its stance towards interest rates,” said J.P. Gervais, chief agriculture […] Read more
Deal called last threat for supply management
The government didn’t doubt the sincerity of the United States’ chief negotiator when he told them his president wanted Canada’s supply management systems “gone.” Settling an update for the North American Free Trade Agreement had become tied to a few concessions on Canada’s part to ensure that a dispute resolution tool, outside of the U.S. […] Read more
Canadians must address non-market trade clause
Is article 32.10 in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement a tempest in a teapot or a slow-building hurricane? Whatever it is, it could have an effect on Canada’s agricultural trade with China. Article 32.10 says any country that pursues a trade agreement with a non-market country must provide the text of the deal to the other […] Read more
USMCA no solution to America’s surplus milk problem
Like much of the U.S. President Donald Trump administration’s efforts, the push to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement was an exercise with much sound and fury but that failed to address the real challenges. In agriculture, the United States forced Canada to make concessions in dairy, but I believe the positive impact on […] Read more
Dairy farmers say trade deal threatens future
Alberta producers say the recently signed agreement will ‘negatively shape the future of the Canadian dairy industry’
Four days before the new international trade deal was agreed, Klaas and Eric VanderVeen welcomed a Lethbridge County tour group to their dairy farm in southern Alberta. The father and son talked about their recent investment in four robotic milkers, valued at $200,000 to $250,000 each, that made their operation more efficient and capable of […] Read more
‘Fortress Canada’ intact
American dairy farmers will benefit from the updated North American Free Trade Agreement because they get more access to the Canadian market and because the deal constrains Canadian exports of milk proteins. However, at the end of the day, Canada’s dairy industry and supply managed system will carry on, an American agricultural economist says. “Overall, […] Read more
Trudeau fails to placate dairy farmers
OTTAWA (Reuters) — Canadian dairy farmers met Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last week to discuss his politically risky move to open up the protected domestic market to U.S. industry, but complained that he had not given them details about compensation. As part of the talks to complete the new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) trade deal, […] Read more
U.S. dairy says Canada not big USMCA loser
American farmers argue that the Canadian supply management sector didn’t give up as much as it should have
An American farmer who has operated dairies on both sides of the 49th parallel says the new version of the North American Free Trade Agreement is good and could have been better. “It was better than what we thought we would actually get,” Allan Huttema said about elements of the deal affecting U.S. dairy trade. […] Read more
