Trump Tariff Threat has Canada's Agriculture Industry on Edge

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's threat to impose a 25 per cent tariff on Canada has the agriculture industry on edge. "We are certainly nervous about tariffs," says Greg Sears, Director of Region 6 for Alberta Grains, and a farmer in the Peace Region. "Approximately 7% of Alberta's wheat and 11% of Alberta's barley goes into the States. Certainly, there'll be a direct impact on those two crops, reducing our netbacks to the farm, which could be significant." Trump has threatened to impose 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods unless the two countries strengthen their borders to prevent illegal migrants and drugs like fentanyl from entering the U.S. Sears points out there are still several weeks before Trump assumes the presidency and an ongoing, productive dialogue is necessary ahead of that. "Now is the time that we have to engage with the different levels of government in Canada and our industry partners nationally to maintain engagement with our contacts in the United States, the bureaucrats, and at the state level to make sure that the message of the mutual benefits and importance of free and open trade between our two countries." Read more about this at ruralrootscanada.com.