American farmers say that tariffs imposed by the United States in Canadian goods are having a “devastating effect” in the local agricultural sector south of the border.
On Wednesday, the president of the United States, Donald Trump, announced new tariffs for dozens of countries. Canada and Mexico were saved significantly in this round, but previous 25 percent tariffs In some Canadian products they will remain.
Some American farmers say that rates are already making it more difficult for producers in their country, already accustomed to difficulties, to make a living.
“Most farmers are quite accustomed to adverse things and situations,” said Doug Sombake, president of the South Dakota Farmers Union. “But I think many of them were beaten and surprised.”
The tariffs are having a “devastating effect on both ends” for producers in the state, who will probably see the price paid for their product, amid tariffs and counter-tarifa, even when the cost of fertilizers and the equipment increases, shadke.
There were already falls in market prices after Trump announced the latest rates this week, he said.
“This was a horrible idea,” he said. “Whoever thought that tariffs were good for the country, do not really understand the civic city and/or the economy.”
Sombake said that 90 percent of the state potassa, which is used as fertilizer and is currently being Tarife to 10 percent, comes from Canada, while much of its agricultural equipment entails a seal “made in Canada”.
The vice president of the North Dakota Farmers Union, Bob Kuylen, also said that he is “very frustrated” with tariffs, warning that they could be harmful to the future of agriculture in the neighboring state of Manitoba.
Steel rates of 25 percent could make the purchases of the necessary agricultural equipment much more, told the presenter Marcy Markusa in a Friday interview with CBC’s Information radio
For example, he says that Canada performs drills without good quality tillage, specialized equipment that plant seeds without altering the ground, but its price of $ 1 million would cost an American farmer $ 250,000 more with the rate.
“That is a great success,” he said.
‘Time Machine’ necessary to undo the damage: economist
To the north of the border, Canadian agricultural economists care that US tariffs have already caused irreparable damage to the economies of both countries.
Ryan Cardwell, a professor at the Department of Agroncamment and Agricultural Economics at the University of Manitoba, says that a “time machine” could be the only way to solve it.
“The degree of uncertainty that has been created by the last months of policy change in the United States, I think it has caused permanent damage,” he said.
“Everything is very worrying and creates a lot of uncertainty and barriers for trade that have not long existed between Canada and the United States”
He said that Trump’s “chaotic commercial policy” has shaken the predictability for investors, which will inevitably register economic growth in Canada, the United States and almost all countries that trade with both.
“People, investors, farmers and producers now have less certainty. They are less willing to undertake the type of investment that generates economic growth,” he said.
It is still possible that Trump can reverse rates once again, but Cardwell is worried about it too late.
“Even if these rates disappear tomorrow, that uncertainty still exists,” he said. “I don’t see a way to change that.”
In North Dakota, where Trump took Almost 68 percent of the votes In the November elections, Kuylen said that it seems that the president is “fighting with food all the time.”
“We should eat well instead of fighting with our food, with all our friends and neighbors north and south of us.”
Sombake says he is disappointed to see Trump, which was backed by 63 percent of voters In South Dakota: Make commercial allies into adversaries.
Instead, he wants to see farmers “visit their neighbors” through international borders.
“What we must do is find ways to work together to help each other, like a world market, instead of going through these types of situations that are never useful to anyone.”
“We have become enemies just by this man.”
