(Corrects reference in paragraph 12 to Kody Blois being a member of parliament, from being a farmer)
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) -Canada’s new agriculture minister, Heath MacDonald, said in an interview on Thursday that tackling trade issues with China and the United States are his most pressing priorities.
The two-front trade war with the world’s largest economies has stressed out farmers in Canada, a major canola, wheat and pork exporter, and impacted spring planting plans.
MacDonald was sworn in on Tuesday and said trade issues are “center stage” after speaking with Canada’s canola industry and provincial agriculture ministers.
Canada faces tariffs from China on Canadian canola meal and oil, as well as peas, pork and seafood products. It is also bracing for an anti-dumping ruling from China on Canadian canola seed exports.
About half of Canada’s canola exports, also known as rapeseed, go to China.
“It’s front and center and it will be front and center from me towards the prime minister’s office,” MacDonald said of the Chinese situation.
Canada’s agriculture industry is also affected by tariffs on some products from the Trump administration, such as steel and aluminum used in agricultural machinery. There is also a long-simmering dispute over Canada’s dairy supply management system, which restricts imports and protects Canadian production.
MacDonald said he hoped to meet with U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins as soon as possible and to work with American congressional representatives and agriculture officials from states that benefit from cross-border agricultural trade.
He reiterated Prime Minister Mark Carney’s position that the Canadian supply management system is off the table in trade negotiations.
“I think supply management is extremely important to Canada. It’s certainly important to my home province and I’ll do everything I can to ensure that it stays as is,” said MacDonald.
MacDonald is from Prince Edward Island and was a member of the House of Commons agriculture committee. He was finance minister of the PEI provincial government.
His immediate predecessor in the agriculture portfolio was Kody Blois, a young member of parliament from Nova Scotia, who was dropped from Carney’s cabinet in a surprise to many in Canada’s agriculture industry.
(Reporting by Ed White in Winnipeg; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
By Ed White
