--- title: Donald Trump Blasts Canada's Dairy Farmers Again description: President Trump criticized the trade polices of Canada on Thursday. canonical: https://time.com/4749191/donald-trump-canada-dairy-farmers/ author: Aric Jenkins article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-20T19:55:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:54:25.168Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump Blasts Canadian Dairy Farmers, Again og:description: "What they’ve done to our dairy farm workers is a disgrace." og:url: https://time.com/4749191/donald-trump-canada-dairy-farmers/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltddd95bbc8d3adeee/6988ba252dce0172439ec41a/trudeau-trump1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Donald Trump Hosts Canadian PM Justin Trudeau At The White House og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump Blasts Canadian Dairy Farmers, Again twitter:description: "What they’ve done to our dairy farm workers is a disgrace." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltddd95bbc8d3adeee/6988ba252dce0172439ec41a/trudeau-trump1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Blasts Canadian Dairy Farmers, Again > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: President Trump Signs Executive Order Targeting Visa Program [Watch (HLS stream): President Trump Signs Executive Order Targeting Visa Program](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/JrsFiHzI.m3u8) (3:20)  _Published 2017-04-18. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday that will make changes to a temporary visa program that brings workers to the United States for high-skilled jobs._ by [Aric Jenkins](https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/) ## Aric Jenkins Apr 20, 2017 7:55 PM UTC  President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau participate in a joint news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington on Feb. 13, 2017. President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau participate in a joint news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington on Feb. 13, 2017. Alex Wong—Getty Images by [Aric Jenkins](https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/) ## Aric Jenkins Apr 20, 2017 7:55 PM UTC [President Trump](http://time.com/4748105/donald-trump-trade-deals/) criticized the trade polices of [Canada](http://time.com/4728289/canada-welcomes-tech-companies-spooked-trump/) on Thursday, blasting measures the country took to protect several of its industries which Trump said hurts U.S. farm workers. “What they’ve done to our dairy farm workers is a disgrace. It’s a disgrace,” the president said, reading from handwritten notes during an Oval Office memorandum signing. Trump took issue in particular with Canadian measures that he said put farmers out of business in Wisconsin and New York. “We can’t let Canada or anybody else take advantage and do what they did to our workers and to our farmers,” the president said, adding that U.S. lumber, timber and energy industries have been harmed by Canadian policy, as well. Trump ultimately pegged the blame on the [North American Free Trade Agreement](http://time.com/4051371/donald-trump-nafta/) , calling it a “disaster” for the country. His remarks echoed comments [he made Tuesday](http://time.com/4745273/donald-trump-canada-dairy-trade-industry/) in Wisconsin vowing to address the “very unfair things” that Canada has done to U.S. dairy farmers. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau fired back in response to Trump’s comments Thursday. “The U.S. has a $400 million dairy surplus with Canada so it’s not Canada that’s the challenge here,” he told [Bloomberg](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-20/canada-s-not-the-challenge-for-u-s-dairy-trudeau-says). “Let’s not pretend we’re in a global free market when it comes to agriculture.” ## Transcript In just a few moments, I will be signing a buy American and hire American executive order. You haven't heard about that in a long time in this country. With this action, we are sending a powerful signal to the world, we're going to defend our workers, protect our jobs, and finally Put America first. Right now, widespread abuse in our immigration system is allowed American workers of all backgrounds to be replaced by workers brought in from other countries to fill the same job for sometimes less pay. This will stop American workers have long call for reforms to end these visa abuses and today, their calls are being answered for the first time. That includes taking the first steps to set in motion a long overdue reform of H- 1B visa. We're also going to standup for our dairy farmers in Wisconsin. [ APPLAUSE ] And I've been reading about it, and 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. [ APPLAUSE ] Because in Canada some very unfair things have happened to our dairy farmers and others and we are gonna start working on that with [ UNKNOWN ]. And with Paul with all of your representatives what happened to you is very, very unfair, it's another typical on- sided deal against the United states and it's not gonna be happening for long so, Scott you and Ron and myself, and Paul and everybody else we're gonna get together  And we're gonna call Canada and we're gonna say what happened? And they might give us an answer, but we're gonna get the solution not just the answer, okay. Because we know what the solution is, all right. [ APPLAUSE ] The fact is NAFTA has been a disaster for the United States, a complete and total Disaster. We're gonna do some things. We have all sorts of rules and regulations that are horrendous. Like we wanted to start negotiating with Mexico immediately and we have these provisions where you have to wait long periods of time. You have to notify congress and after you notify congress You have to get certified and then you can't speak to him for 100 days. The whole thing is ridiculous. NAFTA's been very, very bad for our country. It's been very, very bad for our companies and for our workers. And we're gonna make some very big changes or we are going to get rid of NAFTA for once and for all. It cannot continue like this believe me. This is a tremendous honor for me knowing. [ INAUDIBLE ] Who gets the pen? 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