Quebec premier vows to protect dairy farmers, supply management in response to new tariffs threat
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Quebec Premier Christine Fréchette, responding to new tariff threats hitting Canada from the White House, says the supply management system is non-negotiable.
On Monday evening, U.S. President Donald Trump announced his administration will be imposing tariffs of 50 per cent on a wide range of Canadian exports in 30 days’ time.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has since said the two leaders have agreed to intensify trade discussions in the coming weeks.
Speaking ahead of the premiers’ meeting in Charlottetown on Tuesday morning, Fréchette said she will take the time to review the incoming tariffs. She has asked for a meeting with Carney later this week to discuss the impact on Quebec.
“I will defend and protect Quebec’s economy, Quebec’s workers, Quebec businesses until the end,” Fréchette said.
The tariffs would target a wide range of Canadian exports, from alcohol to hockey equipment to dairy products.
Canada’s dairy industry has long been a sore point for Trump, who sees the protectionist policies behind the supply management system as “discrimination” against the U.S., a position outlined in one of three presidential proclamations published Monday.
Angus MacKinnon, a dairy farmer based in Coaticook, Que., said the Canadian government should “stand tall” in the face of the new threats. Quebec is the country’s largest producer of milk, according to Les Producteurs de lait du Québec.
“We feel as if we’re a pawn in the whole negotiations tactics of Mr. Trump,” MacKinnon told CBC’s Daybreak on Tuesday morning.
He said the fate of the supply management system is what worries him as the U.S. ramps up economic pressures.
“Canada has adopted a quota system, back in the ’70s, and it was to support the dairy farmer to protect [them] from the variations and the fluctuations in the market,” MacKinnon said.
“There are margins that we have to produce within in order to supply the Canadian consumer with the quality product and not have these large, large surpluses and dump it onto the international market.”
LISTEN | Angus MacKinnon’s Daybreak interview:
Daybreak Montreal6:19US to impose 50 per cent tarrifs on Canadian dairy products
U.S. President Donald Trump signed three proclamations that will impose 50 per cent tariffs on a swath of Canadian exports, including dairy products. Coaticook dairy farmer, Angus Mackinnon, explained to us how these new tariffs will affect his farm.
If U.S. dairy farmers were to enter the Canadian market, then producers like MacKinnon would be at a disadvantage given the differences in climate and environmental regulations between the two countries, he said.
Diya Jiang, a McGill researcher specializing in international trade, said this newest round of tariff threats will have a greater impact on Canada-U.S. relations than actual dairy exports.
“Some economic analyses have shown that this actually only hits about five per cent of all Canadian exports,” she said. “This is really a result of the … U.S. administration having exhausted their options. There have already been a lot of tariffs.”
What will undeniably hurt Canada is the uncertainty the recurrent threat of tariffs signals to other countries wishing to do business here, she added.
And that uncertainty is making victims at home as well, she said.
“It makes it very difficult for small businesses to make decisions given that there’s so much uncertainty associated with the market.”
