Trump eyes tariffs on cheap Canadian fertiliser, Indian rice

The US president is facing mounting pressure to address high consumer prices and persistent inflation

US President Donald Trump signalled he could impose fresh tariffs on agricultural products, including Canadian fertiliser and Indian rice, the latest sign that protracted negotiations with two US trading partners could drag on.

Trump spoke on Monday (Dec 8) at a White House event to announce billions in new aid for US farmers, some of whom said that cheaper imports were making it difficult for their products to compete in the marketplace.

The president said that he would “take care” of the alleged dumping of Indian rice into the US. Some farmers have blamed imports for falling rice prices, saying countries such as India, Vietnam and Thailand are undercutting their crops.

“They shouldn’t be dumping,” Trump said. “I mean, I heard that, I heard that from others. You can’t do that.”

Trump similarly suggested he could target fertiliser imported from Canada to boost domestic production.

“A lot of it does come in from Canada, and so we will end up putting very severe tariffs on that, if we have to, because that’s the way you want to bolster here,” Trump said. “And we can do it here. We can all do that here.”

The US president is facing mounting pressure to address high consumer prices and persistent inflation, which has created voter dissatisfaction that poses a political risk for Republicans heading into next year’s midterm elections. That includes farmers, a reliable pro-Trump constituency that has nonetheless struggled in part due to market factors including the president’s tariff regime.

Trump had previously exempted some fertilisers such as potash and urea from so-called reciprocal tariffs he placed on Canada, while products compliant with the North American trade deal negotiated in Trump’s first term are levied at a lower rate.

Both Canada and India have sought trade agreements to stabilise their trading relationships with the US, though negotiators have struggled to strike deals. Trump slapped 50 per cent tariffs on Indian goods in August to penalise it for its trade barriers and purchases of Russian oil. A team of US negotiators is set to visit India this week to continue talks, though a breakthrough agreement to lower the tariffs is not expected.

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Trump has previously threatened to increase tariffs on Canadian products by 10 per cent in response to an advertisement by the province of Ontario that is critical of his trade agenda, which would have increased the country’s tariff rate on goods not covered by the North American trade deal to 45 per cent.

In recent days, Trump has also suggested letting that trilateral deal lapse. BLOOMBERG

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