During a recent trip to Washington, D.C., Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland wore a t-shirt that read: “Keep calm and negotiate NAFTA.” To farmers looking at the result, the shirt could just as easily have read “I renegotiated NAFTA, and all I got was this lousy t-shirt.” Canada came to the table with very little… Read More
Category: Trade
Increased access to the Canadian dairy market through the newly minted United States Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA) will not be a boon for U.S. dairy farmers. That’s the early verdict from Mark Stephenson, director of dairy policy analysis at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “I think the dairy producers are not going to look at their… Read More
Soybeans have been on a wild ride the last few days, riding news of high stocks, news of the U.S./Mexico/Canada trade agreement (USMCA). What’s a farmer to do? RealAg Radio host, Shaun Haney spoke with Arlan Suderman, chief commodities economist at INTL FCStone Inc., to talk soybeans’ recent woes. “I think that there’s a lot… Read More
The long, drawn out NAFTA negotiations really weighed heavily on the nerves of agricultural exporters. The fear of losing the U.S. market or the real threat of the border possibly becoming thicker was a huge stress for beef, pork, oilseed, and cereal producers. The news, then, that there is a trilateral deal to be ratified… Read More
The 25-year-old trade deal known as NAFTA is no more. As of Sunday night, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement know as USMCA was born. So what does this mean for producers? Let us break it down for you… Increased market access for American dairy farmers So far, market access into the Canadian dairy sector has been… Read More
At one hundred thousand feet the new USMCA (NAFTA 2.0) comes with little change, according to most main stream analysts. For agriculture we know that this is not true. One of the agricultural sectors hit hardest is the Canadian dairy industry through concessions to the United States in this new deal. The concessions are two… Read More
Canada has reached an 11th hour trilateral trade agreement with the U.S. and Mexico. The new deal is dubbed the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). Multiple media outlets say Canada’s dairy sector will see changes, with American dairy farmers getting more market access at a reported 3.6 per cent. Additionally class 7 pricing will be revamped… Read More
We’re just a year away (or less?) from a federal election, even as deadlines on huge trade deals, such as NAFTA and CPTPP, loom large. As the opposing Conservatives narrow their gap in the polls with the reigning Liberals, Official Leader of the Opposition, Andrew Scheer answers some tough questions on how the Conservatives would be navigating… Read More
In a move most knew was on the way, American President Donald Trump plans to impose tariffs on $200 billion more of Chinese goods as of next Monday. A news release says he’s imposing the new tariffs, “to protect the interest of working men and women, farmers, ranchers, businesses, and our country itself.” Announced September… Read More
There are many who likely bristle at the thought of a foreign country investing in Canada, perhaps because most equate “investment” with “land buying.” But when we’re talking foreign direct investment, in this case, we’re talking about companies investing in Canadian businesses, and vice versa. And, as J.P. Gervais, chief agricultural economist with Farm Credit… Read More
Federal Trade Diversification Minister Jim Carr was in Saskatoon last week for the federal Liberal caucus meeting. Carr and Mary Ng, Minister of Small Business and Export Promotion, took the opportunity to address the Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce in what was billed as a ‘fireside chat’. The discussion focussed mostly on the programs available to… Read More
The federal government is investing up to $12.1 million over the next five years in a new canola research cluster under the new Canadian Agricultural Partnership. Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay announced the funding at the Bruce D. Campbell Farm & Food Discovery Centre south of Winnipeg on Tuesday morning. Provincial canola grower groups — Alberta Canola,… Read More
An intense round of talks between Canada and the U.S. to modernize the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) came to an end Friday afternoon without an agreement, but with both sides reporting progress and planning to resume negotiations on Wednesday. “We are continuing to work hard, and we are making progress. We’re not there… Read More
U.S. corn growers are voicing concerns and disappointment with their federal administration as the penny-per-bushel trade aid announced earlier this week added to frustrations over retaliatory tariffs and how the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is handling ethanol policy. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue tried to allay those concerns at the Farm Progress Show in Boone,… Read More
As the saying goes, what goes around comes around, and never has that been so true perhaps than with politics and current trade talks. Early in the NAFTA 2.0 negotiations the Team Canada approach was to penetrate the U.S. political system at all levels with its NAFTA lobbying. Whether it was governors, U.S. senators, or… Read More