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Rob Breakenridge: Canadians would be better off without supply management

Unfortunately, Trump has not left Canadians in a mood for further compromises

It’s curious that Donald Trump would be so fixated on Canadian trade practices if he, as he stated this week, doesn’t care about updating the current trade agreement and that he’d “rather be independent.”

It’s also interesting that the U.S. president is so bothered by Canada’s dairy protectionism, when he himself is such a defender of tariffs as smart and sound economic policy. The U.S. certainly maintains all sorts of agricultural protectionism policies, notably the tariffs and cartel system that protect the U.S. sugar industry.

Rob Breakenridge: Canadians would be better off without supply management Back to video

Regardless, though, new tariffs are looming. We can analyze the president’s internal contradictions or try to parse his true motivations, but none of that changes the reality of this further erosion of the Canada-U.S. trading relationship.

Mind you, this isn’t the first trading partner we’ve alienated or the first trade deal we’ve imperiled over supply management. In this case, the U.S. has a valid complaint over not just the broad protectionist aspects of our system, but also differences in how Canada treats American and European dairy imports.

Unfortunately, Trump’s obstinance, hypocrisy and belligerence have not left Canadians in a mood for further compromises. Weakness just seems to further embolden him, anyway. So it’s less likely now that we’ll budge on supply management.

Which is too bad, because at the end of the day, Canadians would be better off without it.

Supply management is one of three examples of trade........

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