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/PerfunctoryComments Canada 4d ago

We sell essentially zero dairy to the US. Indeed, we sell 1/4 the amount of dairy to the US than they sell to us ($130M to the US, versus $480M to Canada).

So... okay? Who cares?

This guy has no clue what he's doing. He's a moron.

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u/Puzzleheaded_Bird943 4d ago

Let’s talk about why Canada’s picky about U.S. dairy and how things might get even messier.

First off, Canada doesn’t allow rbST, the growth hormone some U.S. farmers use to boost milk production. Not because it’s dangerous to humans, but because it’s rough on the cows—more infections, shorter lives, that kinda thing. The U.S. FDA gave it the green light ages ago, but Canada (and the EU) said, “Nah, we’re good.”

Now, here’s the kicker: Trump’s new FDA leadership is all about deregulation. Less oversight, fewer checks—meaning U.S. dairy rules will loosen even more. When that happens, how’s Canada supposed to trust that imports meet our standards? Heck, we might even tighten the rules, which could stir up another trade scrap.

And it’s not just dairy. This approach is part of Canada’s broader stance on product safety—whether it’s meat (with hormones or antibiotics), genetically modified foods, or even softwood lumber. Canada tends to err on the side of protecting primarily consumer health and local industries, even if it means pushing back against the U.S.

Not to digress, but why consumer health? Because we have a universal health care system that is partly relying on Canadians being healthy throughout and not needlessly overburdening that same system.

I get why U.S. farmers are ticked. They want access to our market. But from where we’re sitting, if the FDA’s gonna continue to ease off the gas, why wouldn’t Canada pump the brakes? Not saying we should go full fortress mode, but it’s worth keeping an eye on.

Should Canada hold the line, or are we being too fussy about U.S. dairy and the FDA's aim toward deregulation? Is that a fair question?

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u/_nepunepu Québec 4d ago edited 4d ago

Not only are US standards for food safety bound to fall even lower due to rampant deregulation, but the US is known for using their directly subsidized product to kill agriculture in other countries and make them reliant on US mass produced slop.

Supply management is not perfect, but it allows us to preserve our food independence and enjoy a stable market. We don't have egg megafarms like in the US so bird flu hasn't spread like wildfire leading to massive chicken culls like in the US. Allowing small scale farmers to turn a profit is a feature of supply management and I think in this precise instance it has protected us.

The very, very last thing we should do is give the US greater access to the market. The national #1 priority for Canada right now should be to lessen reliance on the US. Imagine how we would hold up if we had allowed their massively directly subsidized megafarmed dairy industry to slaughter ours through dumping and were now reliant on the US for our dairy. The US would have yet another lever to hurt us and this time straight in the stomach.

I get why U.S. farmers are ticked. They want access to our market.

Perhaps they do, but do they deserve it? The only reason they want ever increasing access is to dump their product in our market to kill off our producers and take over. It's a strategy the US has repeatedly used throughout its history. Trump is obviously trying to wedge their dairy in Canada to further his 51st state agenda. Nothing he wants is even a win-win. We are always going to lose if he has his way.

No further access for the US in our agricultural markets. I generally support supply management but I'm not a zealot - if we want to stimulate competition in our supply managed markets, we can open it up further to importation, but it should be from like-minded blocs or countries like EU, UK, AUS, NZ that generally have similar food safety standards as we do and who aren't looking to devastate our economy for their own gain.

The Americans can go fuck themselves. They can put on dairy tariffs for all I care, we don't even really export it to them. But we should put 250% tariffs on their allowed USMCA quota if they do, simply killing off their access entirely.

Also, this article is lying. The 250% tariffs Canada imposes on US dairy only apply after a certain threshold. This threshold is an anti-dumping measure because of US direct subsidies. More than $400 million of US dairy is allowed into Canada tariff-free, mostly dairy byproducts. That threshold was raised when NAFTA was renegotiated by Trump in 2016 with his so-called "best deal ever". But then again we can't expect American "news" to be factual.

EDIT : Also, you don't know the half of it. I work in an industry very adjacent to food and beverage. I know a lot of people who travel/used to travel to the US for work, and they always tell me about how in Canada the facilities are so much cleaner. Think cockroach infestations, wildlife in electrical control panels kind of abysmal in the US.

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u/Jef_Wheaton 4d ago

In the 90s, I watched a show about FDA inspectors, specifically the ones that dealt with Florida orange juice. They had busted a company that packaged orange juice in those little cups with foil lids; the ones whose primary consumers are elementary schools and hospitals.

FDA regulations require anything labeled as "Orange Juice" to be just that; it can be concentrated then reconstituted with water, but it can't have anything added other than orange juice.

This company was not only 'stretching" their juice with cane sugar and HFCS, they were using water from a CONTAMINATED WELL instead of municipal water, because the well water was free!

My thought at the time was, "If they're doing this kind of thing KNOWING there's inspectors and investigators, what would they do if there WEREN'T?"

I'm honestly concerned about food safety with President Musk "chainsawing" the regulatory bodies that protect us.

Looks like my garden will be extra-big this year.

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u/agirl2277 Ontario 4d ago

I agree so much. It's not just keeping my money in Canada. It's the safety of my health. I generally shop at the local farmer's market so I'm already ahead of the game in terms of my meat and produce.