As tariffs from U.S. and China bite, Canadian agriculture needs help: CFIB [Video]

As the trade war continues, Canada’s agricultural sector is urging more needs to be done to protect the domestic industry, according to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB).

The CFIB says the vast majority (88 per cent) of its agricultural business members want Canada to strengthen trade ties with other countries besides the United States and China.

They say the current measures aimed at providing supports to those impacted by trade tensions including tariffs aren’t going far enough.

“(Farmers) are doing their best to diversify their trade partners,” says Juliette Nicolaÿ, bilingual policy analyst at the CFIB.

“But it’s always complicated, and you don’t do that overnight. So that’s why we need, in the meantime, some support from the government.”

The CFIB says 36 per cent of Canadian agri-businesses have been impacted by the Chinese tariffs with one in four directly impacted, and in most cases, smaller and medium-sized enterprises are feeling the largest impact from current trade tensions.