The Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance is calling on the federal government to engage as quickly as possible with China to resolve a trade dispute with that nation.
On Saturday China announced retaliatory tariffs on Canadian farm and food imports including canola, peas, pork and seafood will take effect March 20th in repose to duties imposed by Canada in October on Chinese-made electric vehicles and steel and aluminum products.
Michael Harvey, the Executive Director of the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance, says given the current trade and geopolitical uncertainty for Canada’s agri-food exports, it’s imperative that the Government of Canada engage with China as quickly as possible.
China is the second biggest market in the world for most agri-food products after the United States. The United States and China are really the two markets that are so big that they can’t be replaced. If you lose access to the Chinese market, it’s almost impossible to move that amount of product to other countries. We’re asking the Canadian government to engage with China on this issue as quickly as possible to find a solution. The government needs to talk to the Chinese.
It’s a difficult period in Canada given our own political situation but we really need to get back into conversations with the Chinese. I think the situation with the United States should push us to reach out and try to get relations with China onto a more even keel.
Frankly, I think one of the best arguments that Canada has in China is the quality of our agri-food products. That’s obviously not the argument that’s winning the day today, with the recent Chinese decision but, over the medium and long term, what we’re offering to China is high quality products that the Chinese consumer wants and we want to keep producing at those high levels because that’s one of the reasons why they’ll come back to us.
Michael Harvey, Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance
Harvey observes governments are prioritising politics rather than food security. He suggests the Chinese decision to impose tariffs on Canadian agricultural products was a political one that hurts food security.
