Pascal Thériault on U.S. tariffs impact on Canada's dairy industry

In a recent article, CBC News spoke to several experts who say U.S. tariffs on Canadian dairy products would have little effect on Canada's protectionist system.

The director of McGill University's Farm Management and Technology Program agrees that these tariffs would have a "somewhat limited" impact on industry.

"What I'm really concerned about is that [Trump] will try to get another, yet another, breach in our supply management system," agronomist and economist Pascal Thériault told CBC.

Thériault worries that the U.S. will seek more room for its milk in the Canadian market when he Canada-US-Mexico (CUSMA) trade agreement goes under review in 2026.

"If we must let in more product, it means that we're removing production right from our own farmers," he said.

Thériault wants Canadians to remember that many rural economies rely heavily on small dairy and poultry farms, as well as egg producers.

"Those are small businesses that keep our villages, our small towns, running," he said. "Should we lose those smaller farms, ultimately it's our whole rural landscape that would get hurt out of it."

The power lies in the hands of consumers at the end of the day, because companies are less likely to import a fresh product such as U.S. dairy if no one buys it, he said.

However, Thériault doesn't believe the U.S. dairy industry has much to gain even if it did get greater access to the Canadian market. The state of Wisconsin produces more milk than all of Canada each year, flooding the American market with a variety of products, he said.

"Thinking you will open the Canadian market to U.S. milk and it will solve the U.S. farmers' problem in dairy, doesn't stand."