Tariffs on U.S. Pork Also Hurt Canadian Pork Producers

The Chair of Manitoba Pork says factors that lower the value of hogs in the United States, harming U.S. pork producers also hurts Canadian pork producers

by Bruce Cochrane – FarmScape Online

“Producers on both sides of the border like free trade and we don’t like trade impediments, so we’d like to see that stay as it is,” George Matheson, the Chair of Manitoba Pork, told FarmScape Online. “We’re also concerned about swine health, hoping that we’re on top of diseases on both sides of the border and continuing to push biosecurity and disease transfer, as well as social responsibility and public affair concerns that are always high on our agenda.”

“We’re very concerned about issues between U.S. and Mexican pork trade”

 

Representatives of Manitoba Pork travelled to Des Moines this week to participate in World Pork Expo and meet informally with American pork producers and U.S. political leaders.

“In Canada we’re very concerned about issues between U.S. and Mexican pork trade.”

High on the agenda were retaliatory tariffs imposed on U.S. pork by China and Mexico in response to U.S. tariffs on aluminum and steel.

“Producers in Canada, because of our lack of packers, take the U.S. national price as their pork price, so if American producers are doing well, Canadian producers will be doing well, so we don’t want to see anything jeopardize U.S. pork trade and put them into a price depression.”

Matheson says a lot of the pork consumed in Canada originates in the U.S. and a lot of the weanlings produced in Manitoba are sold into the U.S. so the two sectors are highly integrated. Producers in Canada and the U.S. deal with the same issues and both favor a free and open border so the future of the North American Free Trade Agreement is top of the minds for both countries.

Matheson would like to see U.S. pork moving freely to both Mexico and China.