Explaining supply management and why Trump is holding it against us

Milk and dairy products are displayed for sale at a grocery store in Aylmer, Que., on May 26, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

By Analysis by The Big Story podcast

Posted Feb 14, 2025 07:22:18 AM.

Last Updated Feb 14, 2025 07:33:56 AM.

It sounds duller than watching paint dry, but an issue called “supply management” is one of the key factors in U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff decision.

Trump has criticized Canada’s protected agriculture industries for years, and now he’s been pointing to “supply management” in the dairy sector as one of the reasons for his tariff threats.

What is the decades-old policy that manages how much dairy product is produced in Canada? And why does Trump care about it?

Host David Smith gets a lesson in agriculture production and trade policy from the ‘Food Professor,’ Sylvain Charlebois, director of the Agrifood Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University.

You can subscribe to The Big Story podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google and Spotify. You can also find it at thebigstorypodcast.ca.
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