Canada Farmers Say Dairy Not a Bargaining Chip in Negotiations

Talks between Canada and the U.S. regarding NAFTA are intensifying in Washington, D.C.  Bloomberg says Canadian dairy farmers recently told Prime Minister Justin Trudeau not to use access to the protected Canadian dairy market as a bargaining chip.  The Dairy Farmers of Canada says it’s already lost $193 million because of past trade agreements and they won’t accept more losses.

“The work of our lives seems to have been reduced to a bargaining chip,” said Dairy Farmers of Canada president Pierre Lampron.

The group, along with the Dairy Producers of Manitoba, said farmers will hold Trudeau accountable for his promise to defend the supply-management system.  The threat may have added strength because of Canadian national elections which come in about a year.  They say Canada’s market is too small to accommodate U.S. overproduction, saying the Class Seven milk targeted by President Trump is worth protecting.

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