‘What will Trump do next?’ Alberta’s agriculture industry on tariff uncertainty

Every day, obstruction cars afloat of wheat, barley and different the different grains rattle crossed bid tracks connecting Canada and the United States, portion semi trucks hauling cattle, pigs and different livestock crisscross the border.

“One of the astir important agriculture trading relationships successful the world.”

That’s however the Canadian Federation of Agriculture describes the magnitude of cross-border commercialized betwixt Canada and the United States erstwhile it comes to agriculture and the agri-foods industry.

According to the Canadian government, successful 2023, astir $72.5 cardinal dollars worthy of cattle, grains and different agriculture-related items flowed 1 mode oregon different crossed the border.

Alberta unsocial exported $6.5 cardinal worthy of goods and imported $2.3 billion, with galore of those goods successful crook utilized successful the accumulation of different products.

For Ryan Kasko, Owner of Kasko Cattle Company successful Coaldale, it’s perplexing wherefore the U.S. would privation to commencement a commercialized warfare with Canada.

“This is 1 of these things that we conscionable can’t expect, that our closest allies and neighbors would make a commercialized warfare with america implicit thing similar this,” said Kasko.

Kasko estimates a 25 per cent tariff connected unrecorded cattle exported to the U.S. would magnitude to astir $1,100 per head.

While astir of his herd is processed and sold successful Canada, astir 40 per cent of that is shipped south, wherever it would besides beryllium subjected to a 25 per cent tariff.

His concerns astir the aboriginal of Canada’s entree to U.S. markets are echoed by Dave Bishop, determination manager of Alberta Grains.

“We export an atrocious batch to the U.S. of wheat and barley and pulses and canola — and we ever merchantability astatine the satellite marketplace price. So wherever that’s going to be?  I’m not sure,” said Bishop.

And buying Canadian, said Bishop, is often not possible.

“We person U.S. products up present that we can’t get Canadian-made. You person a batch of Canadian products that they can’t get made down there. It’s truthful integrated.”

In 2023, the state of Alberta unsocial exported an estimated $6.5 cardinal worthy of products from the agriculture and agri-food industries to the United States.

Even arsenic the deadline for implementing those threatened tariffs was pushed 30 days down the road connected Monday day — they’d been acceptable to statesman connected Tuesday — it leaves the concern up successful the aerial for respective much weeks.

Bishop hopes the menace of tariffs is conscionable a negotiating tactic, but adds,”it’s the fearfulness of the unknown. Trump’s a spot of an unknown. Looking from the extracurricular in, I deliberation that’s what it looks similar — it’s a dialog tactic.”

To Bishop, the agelong word solution — and possibly a metallic lining to this “frustrating dispute” — is for Canadian producers to find different markets.

“What’s Trump going to bash next? What are we going to bash next? How acold does this escalate? It could get really, really, truly ugly,” added Bishop.

“We are going to request to proceed to absorption connected different markets,” added Kasko.

“You know, we accidental this clip and clip again and it’s not that easy. The U.S. is simply a adjacent ally. They’re adjacent doorway neighbors and truthful it is simply a earthy marketplace for us. But we request to proceed to question different ways to marketplace our cattle.”

At the aforesaid time, said Kasko, Canadians needs to fto Trump cognize helium can’t bully us.

“It’s difficult. You know, I deliberation a batch of america consciousness that Trump expects idiosyncratic to travel backmost warring — truthful I deliberation the astir important happening is that Canada arsenic a full has to enactment unneurotic — I don’t deliberation we tin conscionable fto Trump propulsion america around.”