As Canadians await discussion of the USMCA in Parliament, United States President Donald Trump is threatening the future of the agreement over a Honduran caravan of asylum seekers heading to the U.S. border through Mexico. With a reported 7,000 caravan riders (and growing) as it passes through Mexico, a possible showdown at the U.S./Mexico border... Read More
Category: Trade
Reports last week that Kingston's Canada Royal Milk plant, owned by Chinese company Feihe International, might be in jeopardy following the signing of USMCA, were alarming and confusing, says the head of Kingtson's economic development corporation. "There is no immediate impact on Feihe Canada Royal Milk’s investment in Kingston or the forecasted job creation," says... Read More
It seems like a foregone conclusion, but the Bank of Canada is expected to raise interest rates Wednesday. The market is expecting a 25 basis point hike to 1.75%, which would be the fifth increase since July, 2017. Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz will address the Canadian economy that's been tempered in the past... Read More
It was an exciting day for trade between Canada and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region. Today, the Canadian government announced new market access for live cattle exports to the Philippines, along with sheep and goat genetics exports to Indonesia and the Philippines. “Increasing trade with fast-growing and dynamic markets such as those... Read More
There was a tremendous amount of relief, and some consternation, when the new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) was finally struck. Cleary, many industries are simply happy that things did not get worse. The dairy industry, though, feels that things did get worse for them. Dr. Richard Barichello, professor, food and resource economics at the University... Read More
Walk around the World Dairy Expo at Madison, Wisconsin, and you'll find Canadians everywhere – from the show ring, to the cattle barns, and the exhibit halls. In the video below, RealAgriculture's Bernard Tobin and Jordon Underhill, general manager of the Canadian Dairy XPO (CDX), take the pulse of the attendees at the annual dairy... Read More
As one tour comes to an end, another one begins. Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Lawrence MacAulay has ended his cross-Canada tour dubbed “Growing Canadian Agriculture." For the duration of the second part of the tour, MacAulay went from west to east meeting with various farmers, processors, and industry leaders. He also took part in... Read More
What a week in Wisconsin. When I arrived at the annual World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wisconsin, early last week, farmers across the U.S. were still trying to understand the potential impact that the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) could have on their farms. Early television reports featured emotional farmers sharing tearful thanks for a new... Read More
During a recent trip to Washington, D.C., Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland wore a t-shirt that read: “Keep calm and negotiate NAFTA.” To farmers looking at the result, the shirt could just as easily have read “I renegotiated NAFTA, and all I got was this lousy t-shirt.” Canada came to the table with very little... Read More
Increased access to the Canadian dairy market through the newly minted United States Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA) will not be a boon for U.S. dairy farmers. That's the early verdict from Mark Stephenson, director of dairy policy analysis at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "I think the dairy producers are not going to look at their... Read More