North Dakota Farmers Union President says without trade with Canada the impacts can cause problems for farmers
FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) — On Friday, President Donald Trump announced on the social media platform, Truth Social, that Canada has cheated on tariffs and that he is no longer negotiating with Canada for trade. This post comes after Canada released a television ad with a portion of Ronald Reagan’s speech on tariffs.
“That seems relatively petty, when it’s very important that we continue the trade talks so that we can at least get something moving back and establish a good relationship. To the North, it’s been a very good friend and family. And not a friend of ours, the world. We certainly don’t want to disrupt that friendship we have with Canada,” said Mark Watne, President of North Dakota Farmers Union.
North Dakota is one of the top trading partners with Canada on many foreign products. Products include alcohol, gas, lumber, and steel. Watne says that this termination of trade is a problem and could be an issue if it lasts for a long time.
“It’ll translate to lower prices for some of the products that we sell. It will impact some products that come in here. We buy from them, we might not be able to get it here. So it will have a long-range impact. Now, what will a farmer see? Again, we’re a country that needs exports because we have too much production. And without those exports, farmers will get paid less, which means we’ll lose some farms,” said Watne.
Watne also points out that if trade negotiations don’t open up again, it is possible Canada may turn to other countries for trade. Which means people will only buy from farmers if prices are low.
“We’ve got a huge problem that hopefully there’s a master plan to fix this. The only other solution is to create domestic demand. Which means, we need more ethanol, we need renewable fuels, we need other uses for the crops we grow that we get a domestic market that uses up a bunch of supply. But currently, we’re getting push back on renewable fuel so it doesn’t seem like a will to do that either,” said Watne.
Canada’s Prime Minister has paused the advertisements and has stated he is willing to negotiate with the United States when they are ready.
