Fruit and Vegetable Growers Brace for Tariffs, Urge Quick Government Action to Support Trade Exposed Sector

OTTAWA, ON,  Over three days last month, Canada's greenhouse vegetable growers got a preview of what sweeping US tariffs would do to their industry, and they saw that the impact could be devastating.

Canada's fruit and vegetable growers have long-known about the inadequacies in current safety net programs. In recent years, extreme weather events and a growing threat of emerging pests have hurt domestic production. Now, the threat of US tariffs has made these vulnerabilities even more acute. 

In Ontario alone, between March 4 and 7 when US President Trump's tariffs were implemented on a range of goods covered under the Canada-US-Mexico free trade agreement (CUSMA), greenhouse growers reported losses of $2.2 million a day in sales.

With 48 percent of total production exported to the United States, all Canadian fruit and vegetable growers are threatened by the US tariffs.