CCA Report: USMCA is good news

From the October 22, 2018 issue of Canadian Cattlemen

The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) congratulates Prime Minister JustinTrudeau and Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland on reaching an agreement that preserves and secures the duty-free access upon which the Canadian beef cattle sector has built over the past 25 years. This is particularly important as we enter the time of year when the majority of beef […] Read more

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer pose for a photo during a joint news conference on the closing of the seventh round of NAFTA talks in Mexico City, Mexico March 5, 2018.

CCA Report: International trade deals on the front burner

From the October 2018 issue of Canadian Cattlemen

The focus of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) was firmly fixed on trade liberalization throughout September. Renewed activity on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) renegotiations arrived just ahead of the return of Canadian Parliament following summer break, and the sitting of the fall session where it’s widely expected the Government of Canada will […] Read more


It would be very difficult for the U.S. to maintain their healthy beef export market without an imported supply of cattle from Canada.

Here we go again

Tariff disputes with the U.S. are nothing new

For many years we have complacently assumed that American displeasure with Canada’s supply management regime for dairy and poultry production was an issue well isolated from other agricultural sectors. This perhaps was never the case, but it certainly is no longer. If the wayward and quixotic President Trump can slap punitive duties on steel and […] Read more

American and Chinese flags on crumpled paper, diplomatic crisis

Terrible trade wars erupting

Prime Cuts with Steve Kay

Free trade is the lifeblood of the global economy. From the very first evidence of trading, regions of the world and then individual countries have bought and sold goods from each other. Countries increasingly realized the importance of such agreements, not just for the economic benefits for the countries involved but for the societal benefits […] Read more



CCA Report: Reviewing our priorities

CCA Report: Reviewing our priorities

From the June 2018 issue of Canadian Cattlemen

The famous John F. Kennedy quote, “Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future,” couldn’t be more applicable in today’s beef industry. Change is happening all around us, or about to happen, and it is absolutely vital that the beef industry […] Read more


Almost from day one, President Trump has threatened to pull out of NAFTA if he doesn’t get the deal he wants.

NAFTA brinkmanship fails to meet deadlines

Free Market Reflections with Steve Dittmer

The politicians promised we would know whether or not we were going to have a new NAFTA agreement by early May. Frankly, President Trump had it in his hands. The most important issue (gauged by the time invested in it), auto assembly and auto parts, has been discussed for weeks now, long enough that negotiators must have […] Read more

Flags are pictured during the fifth round of NAFTA talks involving the United States, Mexico and Canada, in Mexico City, Mexico, November 19, 2017.

Is fortune smiling on NAFTA?

Free Market Reflections with Steve Dittmer

If fortune is smiling on Canada this spring, you will be reading this column for clues as to how an agreement in principle was finally forged on renegotiating NAFTA. For months now we’ve been tracking the convergence of numerous factors that were pointing towards a do or die situation either this spring or in 2019. […] Read more



cattleman on a horse

CCA Report: Tax and NAFTA

From the November 2017 issue of Canadian Cattlemen

It has been a busy and productive month for the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA). Tax policy has been one of the top domestic policy issues for the CCA since the Government of Canada’s mid-summer announcement. We welcomed the government’s revisions to the tax change proposal announced in October, as their original plan had the potential […] Read more