U.S. pork producers support Canada

The National Pork Producers Council has written to the U.S. president calling for an end to steel and aluminum tariffs against Canada and others.

The council joined a coalition of more than 45 groups on the issue.

It was June 1 that U.S. President Donald Trump imposed “national security” tariffs of 25 per cent for steel and 10 per cent for aluminum.

Canada, Mexico and most countries in the world retaliated with their own tariffs, chosen to exert maximum political pressure.

In a letter sent today to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, the business and agricultural organizations urged the administration to lift the metals tariffs so that Canada and Mexico will rescind their duties on U.S. goods. 

The groups want the metals dispute resolved soon so they can turn their undivided attention to generating congressional support for the new free-trade deal among the U.S., Mexico and Canada (USMCA).

“For many producers,” said the groups in their letter, “the damage from the reciprocal trade actions in the steel and aluminum dispute far outweighs any benefit that may accrue to them from the USMCA. We urge the administration to work with the Canadians and Mexicans on a prompt resolution of the metals issue.”

Pork council president Jim Heimerl, a pork producer from Ohio, said “the metals tariffs are undermining the ability of the private sector to lobby for passage of the USMCA deal. For many sectors, the duties are a hair-on-fire issue that is draining resources that otherwise would be focused on passage of the USMCA.”

Farmers and food companies have been particularly hard hit by the Canadian and Mexican retaliation. the coalition said.

Mexico’s 20 percent tariff on U.S. pork, for example, has inflicted severe financial harm on America’s pork producers, the pork council said.

According to Iowa State University economist Dermot Hayes, the Mexican tariff is costing producers $12 per animal, meaning industry-wide losses of $1.5 billion annually.

Lower prices for U.S. hogs also lower prices for Canadian hogs because there is free trade on them.

So far no special help has been forthcoming from the Canadian government, but the Trump administration has been paying billions in subsidies to its farmers whose markets have been hurt by the tariffs.

Yet just when you think Trump can't make matters any worse, he does.