Supply management may hit negotiating table ‘at last minute,’ NAFTA negotiator suggests

Farmers Forum staff

OTTAWA — A former Canadian diplomat and NAFTA negotiator suggests that Canada will wait until the “last minute” to put supply management on the table in trade negotiations with the Trump administration, according to CTV News.

“You have to wait until it’s getting down to the wire,” Deanna Horton told the broadcaster. “My sense is that Canada will want to keep some of these things up until the last minute, including supply management.”

U.S. President Donald Trump fired off a letter yesterday declaring that all Canadian goods will face a new 35 % tariff effective Aug. 1. In the same missive, he again slammed Canada’s dairy tariff regime as well as this country’s response to the fentanyl crisis.

Prime Minister Mark Carney has cast the Aug. 1 date as the new deadline to complete a trade deal with the U.S. Both countries were working toward a July 21 deadline before Trump’s latest pressure move on Canada. The last time Trump publicly threatened Canada during the ongoing negotiations, Carney reacted by quashing a new digital services tax a day before it was set to begin collecting billions from American tech companies.