30-day reprieve allows time to prepare for potential tariffs

Feb 14, 2025

Agri-Food Economic Systems published a thought piece on February 8, 2025 that provides valuable coaching on how to approach the threat of 25 per cent tariffs on March 4. Authors Al Mussell, Douglas Hedley and Ted Bilyea share their strategic thinking.

Here’s a key excerpt on understanding the Canadian interest:

“In a trade negotiation (or a trade war) what matters is not just the vulnerabilities of the other side -- it is also the vulnerabilities and opportunities of your side with respect to your counterpart. We need to understand ourselves.

However, a common approach is to focus on the vulnerabilities of a counterpart and target those in retaliation. For example, if the members of a legislature coming up for election can be identified and the key industries located in their constituencies determined, targeting the products of those key industries with retaliation provides leverage. This is accompanied by engagement with regional governments to remind them of the benefits from trade and the value of partnership.

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Video: Democratizing Gene Editing - Pairwise’s Vision for the Future of Agriculture

Pairwise has built its business around an idea that runs counter to how many companies approach innovation: make transformative technology easier to access.

In this Seed World interview, CEO Tom Adams discusses why broader access to gene editing could speed crop improvement, expand innovation opportunities and help agriculture address emerging challenges. He explains why Pairwise believes no single company can solve all of agriculture's problems alone—and why making advanced breeding technologies available to more organizations could accelerate progress across the industry.

The conversation explores how consumer trust influences technology adoption, why innovations like pitless cherries and seedless blackberries matter beyond convenience, and how future crop improvements could help address labor shortages, automation, harvest efficiency and other production challenges. Adams also shares his perspective on what the industry may be underestimating about the next wave of gene editing innovation.

Watch the full interview to hear why Pairwise believes agriculture is approaching an important inflection point for gene editing, and why the pace of innovation over the next decade could surprise the industry.

Topics Covered:

o Democratizing agricultural innovation

o Consumer trust and technology adoption

o The business case for sharing innovation

o Expanding innovation beyond major crops

o Next-generation breeding technologies