Photo by Curtis Galbraith.

By Curtis Galbraith

Agriculture

Ag ministers say Team Canada tariffs approach will continue as GGC expresses concern about trade war

Mar 11, 2025 | 2:17 PM

Federal, provincial and territorial agriculture ministers says they will continue with a Team Canada approach in dealing with US tariffs.

The ministers met in Ottawa on Thursday as part of what a release from the federal agriculture department calls “ongoing discussions related to the impacts and potential responses to unjustified tariffs being implemented by the United States.”

The release also says the ministers talked about ways to help Canadian exporters find new international markets and increase internal trade, but did not offer any specifics.

Meanwhile, Grain Growers of Canada says farmers are being threatened by what it calls a trade war on two fronts.

A release from the group says tariffs from the US and China put the future of family farms at risk and threaten billions of dollars worth of exports.

Grain Growers says it shares the concern about net losses and mounting pressure for farmers already expressed by the Canadian Canola Growers Association, Canola Council of Canada and Pulse Canada.

Grain Growers says Canada shipped two million tonnes of canola meal, worth $918 million, and 15,000 tonnes of canola oil, worth $20.5 million, to China last year. The five-year average for pea shipments to China is 1.5 million tonnes, valued at $740 million.

Canola oil and peas are now threatened by Chinese tariffs of 100 per cent that are supposed to kick in on March 20. This is retaliation for 100-per-cent tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, plus tariffs on steel and aluminum.

Exports of grain and grain products to the US are worth $17 billion each year.

Grain Growers is calling on the federal government to start talks with China on resolving the dispute and to come up with a compensation plan for farmers.