A partner with Polar Pork fears Canada’s position on supply management could trigger a further escalation of trade tensions between Canada and the U.S

U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement that he is prepared impose a new 35 percent duty on imported Canadian goods starting August 1st has reignited concerns over trade.

Florian Possberg, a partner with Polar Pork, notes Prime Minister Carney announced on June 16th that he expected a trade deal with the United States within 30 days but we’re past the 30-day mark and there doesn’t seem to be any resolution.

 “If the United States is absolutely stuck on wanting to eliminate the supply management trade barrier, it could cause a huge escalation in the trade war going forward”

“There’s a thought out there that this whole thing was an opportunity for the U.S. to alleviate some of the trade barriers that have been long standing irritants.

“The big thing is supply management in our dairy and poultry that they’ve really had a long-standing irritant with Canada.

“If the United States is absolutely stuck on wanting to eliminate the supply management trade barrier, it could cause a huge escalation in the trade war going forward because Canadian Parliament just passed unanimously a statement that supply management was in no way going to be negotiated out of business in any trade deals and the American stance is you’re going to get rid of supply management come Hell or high water.

“That’s an impasse and that may very well cause the full tariff thing to escalate and, quite frankly, at this point we don’t know where that could end up.“

Possberg notes, while supply management makes up a small percentage of the Canadian economy, it has universal support from Parliament.