A partner with Polar Pork says, while Donald Trump’s increase in the general tariff on goods from Canada is unsettling, most exports are protected by the existing Canada U.S. Mexico Agreement

Last week the Trump administration raised the general tariff on products imported from Canada from 25 to 35 percent.

Florian Possberg, a partner with Polar Pork, points out the increase applies only to goods that are not CUSMA compliant so about 90 percent of Canada’s exports, including pork, are not affected but the political uncertainty is unsettling.

 “It’s a little confusing to figure out what the end games are in some of these negotiations but it still creates uncertainty”

“Standing back and looking at it, a large part of what’s going on is really all about politics and what they say the game is is sometimes not the game.

“For example, the President of the United States uses the fentanyl crisis as the reason why he’s increasing these tariffs.

“The reality is that he needs to have that kind of thing to legally apply these greater tariffs and whether there’s any significant fentanyl  or not is kind of beside the point so there’s these kind of political games going on at very high levels.

“As producer, as the average Canadian we have absolutely no control over what unwinds in that stratosphere.

“It’s a little confusing to figure out what the end games are in some of these negotiations but it still creates uncertainty.

“There’s no question about it and, quite frankly our company depends on trade to a high level.

“Probably 90 percent or 85 percent of our sales are into the U.S. so you’re never really comfortable with what’s going on but, at the same time, we’ve pretty much escaped any negative consequences to date.“

Possberg says the fact is that we trade with the Americans because it’s just plain good business and it’s comforting to know that we have friends on the other side of the border that are lobbying for beneficial trade agreements.