A partner with Polar Pork says the temporary rollback of tariffs on products imported into the U.S. from Canada and Mexico is welcome but it needs to be made permanent. Two days after implementing across the board 25 percent tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports, U.S. President Donald Trump has temporarily withdrawn the duties on most products from Mexico and many from Canada.Florian Possberg, a partner with Polar Pork, says the elimination of these tariffs needs to be permanent.
Quote-Florian Possberg-Polar Pork:
We've enjoyed a good relationship with both Mexico and the United States for a lot of agriculture products and, whether it's potash or pork or oil or any number of products, we benefit from having a free trade situation with the Americans and Mexicans. The business needs some certainty in order to function efficiently and this whole talk of tariffs has created a great deal of instability so we need to get some certainty here so we know how to make our longer-term plans in terms of running our businesses.
Politics has its own end game and, as producers we have very little final say in that but we can lobby the politicians in the states that are affected.
They can tell their people in Washington the harm that it's going to create for people in the Dakotas and the Midwest and all across the United States.
It's just not good for agriculture to have these kind of trade impediments and the message has to get to both Washington and Ottawa, "enough already, let's get back to common sense."
Possberg says integrated nature of the North American pork sector creates a win win for everyone involved a but a 25 percent tariff makes that advantage disappear.He says, while the pause allows time for the politicians to understand the consequences of these tariffs, April 2'nd isn't far away.
Source : Farmscape.ca