Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland will visit Hamilton on Friday to reveal the details of the federal government’s plan to support Canada’s tariff-targeted steel and aluminum industries. Freeland will also reveal the complete, updated list of US products and industries that Ottawa intends to target with its own barrage of retaliatory tariffs, which go into effect Sunday. For all Canadians the question looming over these new tariffs is less about whether we can hurt certain US businesses (we can) but rather can we somehow find our way out of punishing tariffs on steel and aluminum.
IS THIS ABOUT DAIRY FARMERS?
According to John Ivison, writing in the National Post, the prospect of a bilateral deal between the US and Mexico was “very close.” He quotes Ted McKinney, the US agriculture department’s undersecretary. But no such chance was at hand with Canada, as the two sides continued to disagree on dairy. Ivison has McKinney saying the US is not trying to “dictate” how Canada manages its dairy industry but wants to end the pricing system on ultra-filtered milk and other protein rich dairy ingredients used to make cheese and yogurt. These products were entering Canada duty free until Canadian dairy farmers and producers persuaded regulators to introduce a new “ingredients strategy” that cut U.S. farmers out of the market. The suggestion from McKinney, says Ivison, is that access for US producers is the hold-up. Prime Minister Trudeau has said Canada is prepared to show “flexibility” on dairy but remains opposed to the imposition of a sunset clause that would automatically terminate the agreement unless the parties agreed otherwise
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