A partner with Polar Pork suggests, as the renegotiation of the Canada U.S. Mexico Agreement gets underway its important for the Government of Canada to avoid harming what’s been a really good trade relationship.
In preparation for the 2026 review of the Canada U.S. Mexico Agreement, Canada, the United States and Mexico have each launched public consultations to gather input on the effectiveness and impact of the deal.
Florian Possberg, a partner with Polar Pork, notes the Canadian Parliament has stated on a number of occasions that the dairy supply management system is non negotiable but the Americans seem to have a different stand and, while in other parts of agriculture we have a very good case for zero tariffs going forward, the Canadian stand on supply management is a concern.
One of the issues that has been identified, by particularly President Trump is the lack of free trade in dairy products and I suppose poultry products could be in the same category. Depending on how that plays into negotiations, hopefully that doesn’t cause some ramifications for the rest of agriculture but it’s one of the risks going forward. That’s for sure and we won’t know that until we really get into serious negotiations or renegotiations of the Canadian U.S. Mexican trade agreement. That’s one of those things that is out there that could have a detrimental effect on grains and beef and pork.
In politics sometimes decisions are made that are not necessarily based on the needs of the countries or common sense. It’s based on ideological goals and we really can’t afford to have that sort of thing wreck a really good relationship.
~ Florian Possberg, Polar Pork
Possberg notes some countries have agreed to a 15 percent across the board tariff to get a trade agreement with the U.S. but in agriculture our margins don’t allow us to pay a 15 percent tariff and still be competitive.
