The Canadian Pork Council is calling for government intervention to help the pork sector cope with the impact of trade disputes between the United States and its key trading partners.
The U.S. is offering $12 billion and most applications are expected to come from soybean and pork producers.
Ron Bonnett, president of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, said farm leaders met with federal and provincial agriculture ministers in July to discuss the trade wars among the U.S., China and Mexico and pressed the politicians to develop contingency plans.
Bonnett said farm leaders have not yet asked for any “specifics,” but said Canadians are losing their competitive position because of the tariffs and U.S. subsidies. He made his comments during a telephone interview break from farm work.
Among the options, he said countervailing duties are not a good choice because they would escalate the trade war and “despite what (U.S. President Donald) Trump says, nobody wins a trade war.”
He said U.S. farmers are turning out to be a significant ally in that respect; they have consistently urged Trump to leave trade issues alone, including NAFTA, and have said the compensation programs are not an answer they prefer.
In addition to direct subsidies, the U.S. is putting more money into export promotion and is buying more commodities for school lunch and welfare programs.
Canada doesn’t buy commodities for welfare or school lunches.
Bonnett said the Canadian politicians have said the AgriStability program should be adequate for farmers, but he said it only kicks in after a substantial drop in profits and takes too long to deliver relief.
Bonnett said the NAFTA negotiations and tariff wars underline the importance of finding export markets other than the United States.
“I have complete admiration for our negotiators” involved in the NAFTA talks, he said. “They've not lost their cool. I think they’ve done an extremely good job.
