In a bullfight, the Tororero who agitates his cape in front of an angry bull must expect the beast furiously scratching the ground before rushing straight on the target.
Canada may not have done it, but it has brandished this kind of target before Donald Trump by adopting, last June, Bill C-202 which prohibits the Canadian milk market, poultry and eggs to foreign competition more.
Pressed by the Quebec Bloc, the Carney government has linked its hands before you even start to negotiate. Ah! No, there is no question of touching the management of the offer! No matter the price to pay for the rest of the economy!
Now, we cannot be surprised that the American president makes the auction go up by attacking our farmers with fallacious arguments, to obtain more concessions elsewhere.
He has just reproached Canada for making “up to 400 %” of customs duties for American dairy producers. That’s wrong. But that was specifically written in his insolent letter threatening Canada with 35 % all -round rights from 1is august.
What Donald Trump is careful not to say, however, is that the United States also has its sacred cows.
When we take a step back, we realize that support for agricultural producers is almost equivalent to Canada (8.5 % of gross industry revenues) and the United States (8.1 %).
Yes, Canada is covering its egg, poultry and milk industry with supply management.
But for its part, the United States cheerfully protects its refined sugar industry by limiting imports. Beyond very limited quotas, customs duties of $ 482 per tonne are taxed on foreign sugar, while Canada applies rights of only $ 31 per ton 1.
These market control mechanisms make consumers pay more. For American sugar, indirect support represented 42 % of agricultural raw revenues in 2021-2023. For Canadian milk, support was 27 %. Still much less2.
But it must be admitted that Canada seems anachronistic, while most countries abandon the management of the offer.
This protection against foreign competition sounds false on the part of a country like ours which aims to be an apostle of free trade on the world scene and which is a large exporter of all kinds of other agricultural products, such as pork.
Vestige of the 1970s, supply management is the opposite of the free market. Farmers must respect production quotas established according to domestic demand; Sale prices are set according to production costs; And customs duties limit imports, beyond a certain threshold (which American dairy producers have never exceeded).
In the end, we organize so that there are not too much surplus in Canada, but we export very little. Fair enough.
But Donald Trump does not hear it like this.
In the United States, government aid programs fuel overproduction. When there is too much milk, the Americans bet on export to sell their goods. And they see Canada as a potential market … while our public policies are designed to limit surplus and exports.
In short, the two systems are in contradiction, which explains the constant tensions.
In a camp as in the other, politicians remain camped on their position, for fear of losing the precious votes of farmers.
Even if the United States is afflicted by the overproduction and volatility of prices, blame Canada is a less risky strategy on the electoral level than to propose in-depth reforms in their own industry, explains the book America first, Canada then3.
Similarly, for Canadian politicians, it is easier to land as an absolute defender of supply management than to admit that the system would deserve to be revised and corrected.
The idea is not to deliver our milk, eggs and poultry in the pasture to foreign competition, without consideration for our food sovereignty or the occupation of the territory.
But we can pursue these objectives with means causing less distortion than the current system that distorts market rules and increases prices for consumers, as the OECD points out.
The organization believes that a revision of supply management would allow “efficiency gains and a diversification of production by favoring products with greater added value”. This would encourage the milk, eggs and poultry sectors to be more reactive and innovative.
We will come back in more detail in another editorial.
It would have been better to discuss all of this between us, as part of a collective reflection with all those concerned. But for lack of political will, we are now faced with Washington’s pricing threats.
Donald Trump wants to put an end to supply management, without recognizing that the United States has been demonstrating food protection. He wants to win, without losing anything. And he doesn’t hesitate to send Canada to graze.
1. Read the report of Canadian sugar policy carried out by the Canadian Sugar Institute
2. Consult the “Agricultural Policy: Monitoring and Evaluation 2024” report, of the OECD
3. Frédérique Verreault, America first, Canada thenThe University of Montreal Presses, 2024, 235 pages