U.S. hurts itself by not trading fairly with Canada

An agri-food trade researcher said the United States is sabotaging agricultural trade with traditional allies, including Canada, while eroding its competitiveness with China and Russia. 

An independent Agri-Food Policy Note from Agri-Food Economic Systems examined how a U.S. withdrawal from its traditional alignment with the West would affect agricultural trade. 

Agri-Food Economic Systems research lead Al Mussell said the U.S. has become more protectionist in recent years. 

“We seem to be entering a period which some have called resource nationalism. That is to say, the natural resources for energy, rare earth minerals, water and certainly agriculture and food are increasingly scarce and countries are angling with one another to tie up those resources to provide the goods that they need for their countries,” Mussell said. “That’s a different environment than the rules-based trade, mostly free trade or relatively free trade, so the U.S. is no longer leading that movement.”