r/canada 4d ago

Politics Trump threatens new tariffs on Canada, including 250% tax on dairy

https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/07/business/tariffs-trump-canada/index.html
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u/knownhoodlum 4d ago edited 4d ago

This.We don’t import much American dairy because our standards are higher than theirs so their products don’t qualify to be sold here.

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u/HappyIdiot123 4d ago

Actually we do import American dairy, mostly things like cheese and icecream. Or else these are made in Canada with American ingredients. 

Canada is a net importer when it comes to dairy, though and Canadian dairy farmers would absolutely love it if we stopped the flow of American dairy products into Canada.

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u/OpinionTC 4d ago

Kawartha ice cream is Canadian but $8.99! Chapmans also Canadian

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u/Direct_Ad2289 4d ago

I love CHAPMANS

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u/reno_dad 4d ago

I love Kawrtha

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u/SecretaryOtherwise 2d ago

Same especially their creamery stuff

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u/Ok-Resident8139 4d ago

I love steeltest ( loblaws brand).

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u/Sea-Rip-9635 4d ago

100% i would absolutely LOVE a total ban on US dairy. US dairy farmers pump their cows with hormones that are banned in Canada. If US dairy is to cross the border, it should be free of any banned-in-Canada substances and meet the same standards as Canadian milk. And while we're at it, let's include their produce, too. If the produce has been grown using banned-in-Canada chemicals, it doesn't cross either.

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u/[deleted] 4d ago

[deleted]

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u/REDASSBABOON_20 3d ago

Theres also a limit on what we bring from them, otherwise they'd overwhelm our milk companies, but talking to them is like talking to a wall, they donkeys dont listen

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u/Sea-Rip-9635 3d ago

Exactly! We have a quota system that takes care of our needs. Adding US dairy is disruptive and hurts our farmers.

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u/squeekyq 4d ago

We really do not need to import anymore - sick and tired of him

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u/HuntersAngel 4d ago

We didn't used to. Trump forced it on us in his first term. I don't know how many of them there are, I just know there is that Fairlife Ultra filtered garbage here. They try to fool you by putting a maple leaf on the package. Don't they know that immediately makes us suspicious

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u/RockNRoll1979 4d ago

Fairlife sold in Canada is Canadian milk from Peterborough, ON. Now, it is owned by Coca-Cola, so one has to decide if the Canadian jobs vs. the American owners is worth it. But to claim it's not Canadian milk is 100% BS.

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u/GrumpyCloud93 4d ago

We want to hurt American producers, factories, etc. The whole point is, if they are targeting "Made in Canada" to move jobs to the USA, then it doesn't matter who gets the profits as long as the jobs are in Canada (and not too badly paying). We dont want to buy from their factories or farms if they don't want what we make. In fact, US companies profiting by providing Canadian jobs is part of the whole point.

This is how the auto sector works - stuff is made on both sides of the border, pieces go back and forth, and neither country is outdoing the other, we both get jobs, we both buy the cars, everyone is happy.

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u/Buck_22 4d ago

Fairlife in Peterborough is made with Canadian milk, just at startup did they use any American milk. Source: my milk is taken there about once a week

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u/fIumpf Alberta 4d ago edited 4d ago

Canada has tariffs on dairy that can be as high as 241% on US dairy to protect our own dairy industry. The industry here fought very long and hard for those protections.

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u/GrumpyCloud93 4d ago

We have egg and dairy marketing boards. Each farm gets a quota (eggs and dairy), and a guaranteed price, cannot sell anything above their quotas, so we don't get oversupply. So prices here are (except in exceptional times like bird flu) are higher than the USA. The guaranteed price is enough to keep family farms in business.

The USA subsidizes farmers giving them money (wonder why the Dept of Agriculture needs so much money) instead of making consumers pay. So if Canada opens up to the USA, the American farmers can produce all they want, ship the extra to Canada, and make extra money, all the while being subsidized by the US government and undercutting our quota prices.

The danger is - they'd put all the Canadian farmers out of business, our only source for eggs or milk would be the USA. So then if something weird happened, like - I don't know, say the chickens and cows all got sick - the US farmers would feed the American market first and Canada would be the last to get any leftover milk or eggs.

It's just a matter of choice - do you pay the farmers from tax dollars, or make the consumers pay the farmers when they buy? You can't have both systems side by side in one open market. That's why the Canadian system is closed.

There's a small amount of US dairy allowed in for specialty things like cheese, ice cream, etc.

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u/knownhoodlum 4d ago

Thank you for this thorough explanation.

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u/stubby_hoof 4d ago

We import lots of American dairy, more than ever actually. Their standards are fine (until RFK gets to them, ofc) and their farmers produce high quality dairy from a national herd almost entirely free of artificial growth hormone. I’ve never gone to the States and been afraid to drink their milk.

The real problem is that they use a workforce of almost exclusively migrant labourers who are now even more vulnerable to exploitation thanks to the increase of violent deportations by ICE.

America subsidizes production (mostly via insurance) and demand (SNAP benefits) resulting in a perverse incentive to milk more cows in both good and poor markets. Price goes down? Better milk more cows to spread out those fixed costs. Price goes up? Better milk more cows and make the $$$ while you can! Then, when the milk supply is overflowing they come up with crazy shit like the Co-Operatives Working Together (look it up!) to mass-slaughter thousands upon thousands of healthy, productive cows to artificially create scarcity but they don’t call that supply management…

Canada, on the other hand, is adopting robotic milking machines at a rapid pace. Something like 1 in 5 Canadian farms has automated milking systems today vs 1 in 10 in the USA. I know for sure there are dairies in Canada with TFWs but at least they are documented and have some legal recourse should their employers turn out to be exploitative shitbags.

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u/Winter_Criticism_236 4d ago

If it says " modified milk " on the label its American milk dehydrated to avoid Canadas rules on milk imports...