Trump’s dairy tariff threats expose supply management’s cruelty
U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to levy tariffs on Canadian dairy products have rekindled criticisms of the unfairness inherent in Canada’s supply management system.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to levy tariffs on Canadian dairy products have rekindled criticisms of the unfairness inherent in Canada’s supply management system.
A familiar critic of the infamous “dairy cartel”, People’s Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier renewed his call for an end to supply management altogether.
“I said 10 years ago when I was running for the leadership of the Conservative party in 2016, we must abolish that cartel because it would be good for Canadian consumers,” Bernier told True North. “If you look at the price of cheese, milk, eggs and poultry usually it’s about twice the price if you compare that with prices in the U.S. So it’s a legal cartel.”
Trump announced new tariffs on Canadian dairy beginning this week, saying that they were retaliatory for the 250 per cent tariffs imposed on the purchase of Canadian products past a certain threshold.
“Canada has been ripping us off for years on tariffs for lumber and for dairy products,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office Friday. “(It’s) 250 per cent, nobody ever talks about that. 250 per cent tariff, which is taking advantage of our farmers. So that’s not going to happen anymore.”
The tariffs were part of the USMCA previously negotiated by Trump.
Bernier argues that scrapping supply management would ultimately bring down prices and open up more trade between Canada and the U.S.
“We must tell Trump we are ready to reopen the trade agreement for 2026 now and be ready to put everything on the table, including that cartel. Let’s have the negotiation now,” said Bernier. “That must be the position of our country, not imposing tariffs on us, Canadians. These tariffs are a tax on us, Canadians and that will hurt us more than the U.S. It will fuel inflation.”
He pointed to how Canada was unable to secure a free trade agreement with the U.K. several years ago for similar reasons.
“If we want to have a deal, we must put that on the table. That’s what the Trump administration is telling us. I’m against the tariffs but we cannot win a trade war with the U.S.,” he said.
Renaud Brossard, vice-président of communications with the Montreal Economic Institute shares this approach, saying Trump is not the one to blame in this dispute.
“We should get rid of supply management because it increases the cost of groceries for millions of Canadian families and prevents us from exporting high-quality dairy products by limiting our production, not because of President Trump’s latest round of tariff threats,” Brossard told True North.
Bernier said that the roughly 10,000 dairy producers across Canada lobby effectively to keep politicians in fear that they won’t be elected if they end supply management.
However, he also said that “they don’t have the same influence that they had 25 years ago.”
Others like Dalhousie University professor Dr. Sylvain Charlebois has also chimed in on X saying “Americans have every right” to be upset with current terms but the problem lies in the dairy sector’s political influence.
Canada has protected its dairy products under “supply management” policies to keep foreign egg and poultry industries out of the domestic market.
“Ask Canadians if supply management is more important than all of the Canadian economy, then all other industries, it’s an easy choice,” said Bernier.
Millions of gallons of milk dumped every year to control the supply while Canada's families cannot afford overpriced dairy products. Remember covid scam when thousand of pounds of butter was put in storage financed by the crooked Liberals to keep the prices high. The biggest joke is the cartel advertising dairy products on legacy media like Canadians have a choice.
It is remarkable that a politician should criticize supply management, which is bad for consumers and is now bad for all Canadians, when people who are supply management promoters live just outside his backyard? I support him for that alone. I remember travelling through Maine to get to New Brunswick faster. I neglected to think I might get thirsty during the trip. I only had one American quarter with me but hoped I could find something anyway. Alas, I found a half-pint of milk for 25 cents. In Quebec the cost was double! That a privileged few should be the only ones to benefit is wrong.