Tariffs on Mexican, Canadian Goods Put into Effect
David Salmonsen
Senior Director, Government Affairs
Chad Smith
Associate News Service Editor, NAFB
The promised tariffs from President Donald Trump on Mexico and Canada are officially in place. Chad Smith has details on what this means for agriculture.
Smith: At 12:01 am, Tuesday, March 4, tariffs on Mexican and Canadian imports went into effect. At the same time, the tariff on Chinese imports doubled. Dave Salmonsen, senior director of government affairs with the American Farm Bureau Federation, says these tariffs now cover a significant portion of American agricultural exports.
Salmonsen: Mexico's $30 billion a year in our ag exports. Canada's $29 (billion). China's been about $24 (billion). Add them up. Those three countries are half of all U.S. agricultural exports. The U.S. said they were going to put 25 percent tariffs on good imports from Mexico, 25 percent on most things from Canada. Ten percent on energy products. And with China, we added 10 percent.
Smith: He says tariff retaliation includes a large list of U.S. agricultural products.
Salmonsen: From Canada, starting off with a 25% import tariffs on U.S. products going in. We got poultry and dairy, wheat, barley, rye, a lot of grains. China also has a retaliation list. This will go into effect on March 10 for chicken, wheat, corn and cotton, 15 percent, and then 10 percent tariffs on soybeans and sorghum and pork and beef and fruit and veggies, dairy products.
Smith: Salmonsen says there are still some possibilities of negotiations on exclusions for agricultural products.
Salmonsen: Now these tariffs so far, other than a lower tariff on Canadian energy products, but there really haven't been exclusions. Over 85 percent of our potash comes from Canada. We don't want that subjected to a 25 percent tariff that the U.S. put on it. Why don't you exclude that? If this lasts any length of time, the pressure on doing exclusions will certainly rise.
Smith: For more information on tariffs, go to fb.org/trade. Chad Smith, Washington.
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