By Ryan Hanrahan
Wisconsin Public Radio’s Hope Kirwan reported that “American farmers are bracing for the impact of new tariffs exchanged between the U.S. and Canada on both their supply costs and their sales.”
“President Donald Trump’s administration placed new 50 percent tariffs on around $20 billion worth of Canadian goods after trade talks between the two countries fell apart in late August,” Kirwan reported. “Canada came back with its own list of equivalent import taxes on American goods that (went) into effect on Tuesday.”
“Amid a barrage of social media posts criticizing the United States’ northern neighbor, Trump claimed Americans ‘don’t need Canada.’ But Jayash Paudel, associate professor of economics at the University of Oklahoma, said trade data tells a different story — especially for farmers and agriculture-related manufacturers,” Kirwan reported. “He pointed out that Canada bought $28 billion in U.S. agricultural goods last year, making it the second-largest export market behind Mexico.”
“‘It’s not really about winning or losing here,’ Paudel said of the latest tariff exchange,” according to Kirwan’s reporting. “‘I think ultimately the heat is going to be felt by Americans.'”
AgroLatam’s Marcus Ellington reported that “the immediate agricultural concern is less about a direct tariff on corn, soybeans or livestock and more about the possibility that a broader trade confrontation begins moving through the farm economy.“
“U.S. agriculture depends on highly integrated North American manufacturing, transportation and input supply chains. Farm equipment, replacement parts, processing facilities and agricultural infrastructure require steel and other manufactured components that can cross the border multiple times before reaching the final customer,” Ellington reported. “Any sustained increase in costs or disruption to those networks could eventually reach farmers already managing tight margins and elevated input costs.”
Source : illinois.edu