Donald Trump is angry at Canada over our dairy industry, but according to a Townships dairy farmer, the U.S. president only has himself to blame.
During a visit to a Wisconsin factory on Tuesday, Trump took issue with Canadian dairy regulations, which he suggests threatens Wisconsin's dairy industry.
"We are also going to stand up for our dairy farmers in Wisconsin. And I’ve been reading about it, I’ve been talking about it for a long time, and that demands, really, immediately, fair trade, with all of our trading partners. And that includes Canada," he said in his first direct attack on this country.
"They produce a huge amount of milk, they produce more than what their country needs, and they have to get rid of that milk somehow," said Kevin Shufelt with Dale Vista Farms.
He suggests if the U.S. would just pass a similar supply management system to what Canada has, they wouldn't have these problems.
"They've been trying in the United States to implement a quota system, because it's the best system in the world," Shufelt says, "and because they don't do it, they're trying to flood and eliminate our system."
Meanwhile, Canada's ambassador to the U.S., David MacNaughton, echoed those sentiments in a letter to the governors of Wisconsin and New York, saying Canada has done nothing to block U.S. imports, and that an "over-saturated" U.S. market has led to lower prices.
Dairy producers in both states say Canada's decision to impose import taxes on ultra-filtered milk — a protein liquid concentrate used to make cheese — has unfairly hurt them, while the Canadians are accusing the Americans of "scapegoating".
-CJAD 800's Matt Guite and the Canadian Press contributed to this report.