Canada’s pork sector could face greater exposure than its U.S. counterpart if the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) trade relationship deteriorates, according to Polar Pork partner Florian Possberg.
Possberg says escalating trade tensions between Canada and the United States have not significantly disrupted day-to-day hog industry activity so far, but the uncertainty surrounding the future of the North American trade relationship remains concerning.
“We’ve feared the worst, I guess, over the last two years when this thing really became an issue,” Possberg said in an interview with Farmscape. “So far, in our particular industry, the hog industry, it hasn’t been an issue on a day-to-day basis really, but we know that that could change in a heartbeat.”
His concern is particularly significant for Canadian pork producers because of the industry’s reliance on access to the U.S. market and the highly integrated nature of North American agriculture.
Possberg argues that Canada has more at stake in maintaining an open trading relationship with the United States than the U.S. does with Canada.
“Our dependency going south is far greater than the Americans’ dependency on going north,” he said.
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