Henry Buffinga

The U.S. exported $1.14 billion worth of dairy into Canada last year, and their dairy industry has an $850 million trade surplus with Canada. Canadian tariffs on U.S. dairy aren’t even being applied. 50,000 metric tons of milk can come into Canada tariff free. Once these thresholds are surpassed, over-quota tariffs apply, which can range from 200% to over 250% depending on the product (e.g., 241% for milk, up to 298% for butter). In practice, however, the U.S. rarely exceeds these quotas. The complaining about unfair trade practices regarding Canadian dairy is particularly interesting when you learn the U.S. dairy industry is highly subsidized by the U.S. government, making it easy for U.S. dairy producers to undercut Canadian ones.