Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue is in Canada for a bilateral meeting today with Canadian Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay on “issues of shared importance in agriculture.” At the same time, NAFTA negotiations seem to be gaining new footing. Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, in Washington on Thursday, said there will be “a real push over the summer” on negotiations for the new NAFTA.
“We spoke about a plan and a path forward,” Freeland said after meeting U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer, reported Bloomberg. No specific date was set for the next meeting. Agriculture is a sticking point in the negotiations — Canada’s supply management system for dairy, poultry, and eggs is particularly contentious — but issues such as automobiles command more attention.
There are “two entirely separate tracks” for NAFTA and for the Canadian response to U.S. tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, said Freeland. Canada says it will decide soon on offsetting tariffs against U.S. farm and manufactured goods. Mexico imposed tariffs on U.S. pork, apples, and cheese, as well as metals, in retaliation for the steel and aluminum tariffs. Officials told Reuters that Mexico could target $4 billion in U.S. corn and soybean imports if the United States escalates the dispute, perhaps by acting against automobile trade.
Former Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman said President Trump’s trade tactics “will produce damage for American farmers and ranchers in the long run,” similar to the fallout from the U.S. grain embargo of the Soviet Union in 1980. “So far, farmers appear to be sticking with the president,” wrote Glickman in The Hill newspaper. “I have been surprised by that reaction.”