A growing list of farm groups are publicly calling for compensation from the Canadian government for lost farmgate revenue as a result of China’s sanctions on Canadian agricultural exports.
Responding to Canada’s tariffs on electric vehicles, steel, and aluminum from China, the Chinese government on March 8 announced it will impose 100 per cent tariffs on Canadian canola oil, canola meal, and peas starting March 20. Canadian pork and some seafood products, such as lobster, are also slated to be subject to a 25 per cent tariff.
“The impact of the federal government’s trade policy decisions is now playing out at the farmgate, making it imperative that government respond with a plan for financial compensation commensurate with the losses incurred,” said Rick White, president and CEO of the Canadian Canola Growers Association, in a statement over the weekend.
The president of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, Keith Currie, shared the same message, calling for “commensurate” compensation.
“It is crucial that the Government of Canada stand firmly with Canadian canola, pork and seafood producers,” said Currie. “We urge the Government of Canada to engage in immediate and robust diplomatic efforts with China to address these tariffs and to work closely with affected industries to provide financial compensation commensurate with the losses incurred by farmers who are paying the price.”
“Farmers are being treated as collateral damage in international trade disputes,” noted Kyle Larkin, executive director of Grain Growers of Canada, in a GGC news release. “We’re calling on the government to take immediate action — first, to engage with China to find a resolution and, second, to establish a compensation plan to cover the financial losses farmers are facing.”
“This crisis is entirely self-inflicted,” said Wheat Growers’ president Gunter Jochum. “The Liberal government has made Canada an unreliable trading partner, allowed our international reputation to erode, and now, they’ve put farmers in the crosshairs of a global trade war.”
In a news release on Monday, the Wheat Growers demanded the federal government immediately undertake the following:
- Financial compensation commensurate with the losses incurred;
- An end to interprovincial trade barriers;
- Investment in critical export infrastructure;
- Leverage trade agreements that diversify Canada’s markets and build credibility with global partners; and
- Regulatory reform to attract investment, build confidence, and ensure a predictable, science-based trade policy.
Details on what this compensation would look like, or how it would be delivered, have not been discussed publicly.
In 2022, when farmers affected by Canada’s 35 per cent tariffs on fertilizer imports from Russia sought compensation, then-Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau announced changes to the federal cash advance program, increasing the interest-free portion of short-term government-backed loans from $100 thousand to $250 thousand.
Current Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay announced an extension to the interest-free portion of the cash advance program for 2025 on Friday, hours before the Chinese government unveiled its tariffs on Canadian agricultural exports. The cash advance announcement by MacAulay was part of a series of federal measures aimed at helping businesses affected by U.S. tariffs, which also included a $1 billion top-up to Farm Credit Canada’s lending capacity.
There are also questions around who would make the call on compensation and push it through the cabinet approval process, as new Liberal leader Mark Carney will have to name a new cabinet shortly after being sworn in as prime minister sometime this week. MacAulay has announced he is not running in the upcoming federal election, making it likely that someone else will be named agriculture minister in Carney’s cabinet.
