Sheltered Canadian dairy sector skimming global exports, U.S. complains

The US is no better than Canada, or anywhere else, when it comes to tariffs. Just look at the limited access and high tariffs applied to sugar in the US. That's one reason US fizzy drinks are full of high fructose corn syrup instead of sugar.

The US is no better than Canada, or anywhere else, when it comes to tariffs.

Indeed, I believe tariffs on Canadian products imported into the US are on average higher than the other way around.

The US is no better than Canada, or anywhere else, when it comes to tariffs. Just look at the limited access and high tariffs applied to sugar in the US. That's one reason US fizzy drinks are full of high fructose corn syrup instead of sugar.

Sugar has a super high tariff in the U.S. primarily to protect a family business in Florida. It distorts the global market, and no sugar producers can afford to compete in the U.S. The family is super rich because the prices are artificially high, and they use immigrants as cheap labor. Consumers are accustomed to the high sugar prices, and the only competition is the corn producers, which have their own government subsidies.

Since it is big business and politicians get their payoffs, it is OK.

I knew some professors who made a fortune buying sugar from low cost producers in Brazil and selling in Russia.

I've read so much about this so-called 'issue' that I think it's about time, as a Canadian with some knowledge about it, I put forth some facts.

The US does not have a supply-management system like Canada's and US dairy farmers suffer at the mercy of their unregulated system, regularly going through boom-and-bust cycles, which causes them to look north of the border to sell their surplus products. Canada's dairy farmers once had that problem, which led to costly long-term storage facilities paid for by taxpayers, just like the US has now. The US federal subsidies to its dairy farmers far exceed any cost Canadian taxpayers pay for slightly more expensive milk and cheese.

Further exasperating the problem for US dairy farmers who overproduce is that in order to survive and avoid bankruptcy (something their president has taken advantage of, to the detriment of thousands of 'little people') they can't avoid price-drops, and therefore still go out of business.

What has not been mentioned in any news reports - at least truthfully - is that almost 50% of US dairy farmers' incomes are derived from hidden subsidies (not something Trump wants to admit), AND, Canadian dairy farmers receive NO SUBSIDIES. Which free enterprise system works better?

The reason US dairy farmers complain so much about the lack of a market for their products north of the border is simple - Canadian dairy farmers have stability and a reliable paycheque, their US counterparts don't.

It's time for US dairy farmers to demand a supply management system like Canada's, instead of depending on the public teat.