Dairy Farmers of Canada are not happy with President Donald Trump’s remarks and his taunting tweets at Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau following this weekend’s G7 summit in Quebec. The DFC says these attacks, whether on Prime Minister Trudeau, or dairy farmers in Canada, are founded more on rhetoric than fact.
Based on Justin’s false statements at his news conference, and the fact that Canada is charging massive Tariffs to our U.S. farmers, workers and companies, I have instructed our U.S. Reps not to endorse the Communique as we look at Tariffs on automobiles flooding the U.S. Market!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 9, 2018
PM Justin Trudeau of Canada acted so meek and mild during our @G7 meetings only to give a news conference after I left saying that, “US Tariffs were kind of insulting” and he “will not be pushed around.” Very dishonest & weak. Our Tariffs are in response to his of 270% on dairy!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 9, 2018
According to the DFC, Canada has a trade deficit of 5:1 with the US on dairy alone; furthermore, 10 percent of the Canadian dairy market is already open to tariff free imports – compared to only 3 percent in the US.
In a statement issued Monday, the DFC said:
“U.S. food companies, who have, and continue to, invest in Canada, recognize the value of the dairy system in Canada. The stability of our system, our sustainable production, and the quality of our milk are among the reasons making Canada such an attractive place to invest.
The root of the U.S. problem is that they are producing too much milk in an over saturated world market. Canada already produces enough milk to fill Canadian demand. As Canada has less population than the state of California, and that Wisconsin alone produces more milk than all Canadian farms combined, clearly, the Canadian market is too small to make a dent in U.S. overproduction.
Canadian dairy farmers and their families are concerned by the sustained attacks by President Trump with an aim to wiping out dairy farmers here at home.”
