By Connor Lynch
Grain Farmers of Ontario and the Grain Growers of Canada put out a united call for a trade war fund from the federal government last month.
The call comes as the U.S.-China trade war deepens, with a new round of tariffs being issued last month.
The trade war between the two global superpowers kicked off as the U.S. government sought to curtail what it alleges are numerous intellectual property violations by China. It put tariffs against a number of Chinese products, and China responded in kind. Talks have been held repeatedly, but to no avail. A fresh round of tariffs came just last month as talks once again broke down.
Crop farmers in the U.S. have been particularly hard hit, and last month the U.S. announced as much as $15 billion would be given to crop farmers to mitigate the impact of the trade war on them.
That’s after as much as $12 billion went out to American crop farmers last August.
Farmers in Ontario, and Canada, just can’t keep up, says the GFO. “The U.S. is protecting its farmers and we need the Canadian government to protect our farmer members from trade disputes that have impacts on markets and distort prices,” said president Markus Haerle in a statement.
The GFO wants a Trade War Fund to be established by the federal government, although they did not clarify if they wanted direct payments to farmers, or how the fund would “ensure that Ontario grain farmers are protected from global trade disputes.”
The GFO is also looking for the federal government to activate a GFO pilot project, Gross Margin Insurance, by 2020. They also want the federal government to “normalize commercial relationships with China,” ratify our international agreements, and scrap the carbon tax.
