Image Credit: Kent Simmonds / CFJC Today
'We will do business differently'

BC Cattlemen’s Association bracing for potential U.S. tariffs on livestock exports

Jan 28, 2025 | 4:45 PM

KAMLOOPS — Talk of the new U.S. administration bringing in tariffs on Canadian goods has ramped up this week. And if those tariffs are implemented, agriculture in this country would be heavily impacted. Canada’s beef sector exports and imports a significant amount of live cattle to and from the U.S., and a sudden disruption to that flow would create problems for both countries.

The BC Cattlemen’s Association is still waiting to hear if the U.S. will follow through on 25 per cent tariffs. In the meantime, the organization is focusing on what it can control.

Nearly half of the live cattle raised in Canada are exported and of that fraction, around 75 per cent are exported to the U.S. Kevin Boon, the general manager of the BC Cattlemen’s Association, says in B.C., a large amount of cattle are sent to processing plants in Washington.

“It is very much a cross-border industry that we both benefit from,” says Boon. “When we start talking about tariffs and we start talking about trade implications of it, they’re multi-leveled and they’re multi-faceted as to how that outcome will affect us.”

Canada also brings up nearly as many cattle as it sends down. Every year, around 300,000 head of cattle from the U.S. are brought to Canadian feed lots. From there, a large amount of those fed cattle are sent back to the U.S. for processing. Many of those processing plants rely on Canadian beef and Boon says if tariffs reduce their production, it could result in American job losses.

“I think the other thing is if that supply is challenged and if there are tariffs coming on to Canadian beef to get it down there, it’s going to drive their cost of beef and of cattle up,” he notes. “And so their consumer is probably going to pay more.”

If tariffs heavily increase the cost to send Canadian cattle stateside, then Boon believes B.C’s beef industry would have to focus more on the domestic market and building partnerships with other countries.

“And let’s be clear — the U.S. is our best market. The closer the market, the better, but we need to be able to make sure that we have the other markets available to us and I think that this is an opportunity,” he explains, qualifying, “If a tariff even goes on. I have my doubts as to whether that will actually happen.”

Boon doesn’t expect tariffs to actually equate to 25 per cent — especially if the Canadian dollar continues weakening.

“We know that a lower dollar means we have a higher trading power and so that’s one of the things. If we see a high tariff come in, it won’t have as big of an effect on us. If they put in a 20 per cent tariff, it might only be 10 per cent that we see change in our prices, so it’s not going to be the end of the world. It’s going to be, ‘We will do business differently.'”

The United States and Canada share one of the largest trading relationships in the world and Boon says the beef industry won’t be the only part of the agriculture sector that feels an impact if U.S. tariffs are implemented on Canadian goods.

According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the average American buys around $118 in Canadian agricultural products every year, while the average Canadian purchases around $722 worth of U.S. agricultural products annually.

“If we had a 10 per cent tariff or a 25 per cent tariff, what are the things that we forecast it could have (an impacted on)? We’re not saying we’re ignoring it. We’re just saying we’re looking at how do we remain in business and producing food. Because at the end of the day, that’s what we’re doing. And we’re producing them first for the Canadian, and after that, it’s for the export market,” says Boon.