SOUTH LANCASTER, Ontario – United States President Donald Trump took aim at Canadian dairy producers on Tuesday, April 18 calling the supply management system "unfair".
One Glengarry dairy business says however, Canada’s rules just encourages Canadians to buy domestic products.
“The supply management system has been in place since the early 70s,” said Margaret Morris of Glengarry Fine Cheese. “It makes us buy Canadian.”
Trump made his comments to factory workers in Wisconsin, a major American dairy producing state.
“We are also going to stand up for our dairy farmers in Wisconsin. And I’ve been reading about it, I’ve been talking about it for a long time, and that demands, really, immediately, fair trade, with all of our trading partners. And that includes Canada,” he said. “Because in Canada, some very unfair things have happened to our dairy farmers and others.”
The speech was made in part to promote Trump’s new “Buy American, hire American” Executive Order which is meant to encourage American citizens to not buy imported products.
Morris said that levels of American dairy exports are decreasing. She said that the Canadian system of management, regulation and standards encourages Canadians to buy domestic.
“The laws here in Canada protect farmers and the product,” she said. “It shows that we care. It is good quality milk because it is so regulated.”
Morris also noted that American dairy producers use hormones and antibiotics while their Canadian counterparts do not. She went on to say though that there are deep connections between the two industries.
“The whole dairy market is really intertwined,” she said. “There are some Canadian companies that use significant American products. We use American ingredients.”
Ultimately, Morris feels that Trump’s was playing to his audience.
“He was standing in Wisconsin, a huge dairy state and he was saying what he had to say to stay popular,” she said.
