U.S.–Canada Trade Relationships: Developments and Implications

Extract

North American agriculture is passing through yet another period of adjustment in markets, production levels, and government programs. The adjustment grows out of an enormous change in global food conditions after 1980. Nations that traditionally imported large amounts of foodstuffs begin to move toward greater self-sufficiency and nations that exported to them saw surpluses began to pile up in their warehouses. The burden of these shifts was not borne evenly by exporting nations. The United States experienced a dramatic downturn in its food exports while other nations, often using government subsidies to gain market share, went on increasing production and exports.