Trump’s reckless trade war with Canada will hurt U.S. farmers
Here we go again.
As if American farmers haven’t already been punished enough by President Trump’s reckless trade wars, his latest skirmish with Canada will only add to the financial strain and frustration that has bedeviled America’s ag economy since Mr. “Art of the Deal” took office.
Trump is threatening to raise tariffs on vehicles, auto parts and steel coming into the U.S. Why? Trump says it’s because Canada isn’t cooperating in ongoing negotiations. Trump is so frustrated and angry that he plans to increase tariffs on Canadian imports by as much as 50%, which will likely make goods coming from our northern neighbor prohibitively expensive for many Americans.
The impulsive Trump apparently doesn’t have the patience to negotiate with Canada’s trade representatives and has decided to scare them into submission by imposing these punitive tariffs in January.
Trump’s “let’s scare the hell out of ‘em” ploy has so far failed. It certainly hasn’t worked on the combat front in Iran, and it hasn’t done much on the trade policy front, either. He promised to reduce our country’s negative trade balance but instead the U.S. trade deficit has been as large as ever since Trump took office in 2025.
As to the current flap, American farmers are about to get shafted by yet another trade policy flop. How? because Canadians are already retaliating against Trump’s hot-headed approach. They just imposed a sweeping series of tariffs on imported U.S. farm goods, starting on September 8.
Ag producers across the board will feel the new jump in tariffs on their Canadian sales. Aware of this, American Farm Bureau Federation Zippy Duvall told The Fence Post, “Canada has been one of the most important trading partners for U.S. agriculture since our first free trade agreement in 1989 … we are concerned … additional tariff escalations and subsequent retaliation will hurt U.S. agriculture at a time when farmers and ranchers are already struggling.”
The livestock trade has already rendered a snap opinion. Yesterday’s sharp selloff in cattle and hog futures at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange speak for the reception that the tariff news got on the trading floor.
But it doesn’t stop at ag.
Canada’s retaliatory response to Trump’s threats will rattle everybody, not just farmers and ranchers, involved in cross-border trading. The U.S. industrial sector is also going to feel the pressure. Nobody gets out of here unscathed. Both producers and consumers live in the limbo of Trump’s uncertainty and growing ineffectiveness. We all pay the price for Trump’s volatile temperament and chronic miscalculations.
Canadians have some reason to call Trump’s bluff on this latest round of bravado. And Americans have some reason to be sick and tired of it.
John Tsitrian is a businessman and writer from the Black Hills. He was a weekly columnist for the Rapid City Journal for 20 years. His articles and commentary have also appeared in The Los Angeles Times, The Denver Post and The Omaha World-Herald. Tsitrian served in the Marines for three years (1966-69), including a 13-month tour of duty as a radioman in Vietnam. Republish with permission.
Photo: public domain, wikimedia commons
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