Obama Had The Same Complaints About Canadian Dairy As Trump

[oberliner]

WASHINGTON — In a private meeting inside the White House, the president of the United States groaned about Canadian dairy practices to a visiting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, lamenting that regulatory changes were hurting U.S. exporters.

The president doing the grousing was Barack Obama.

While Donald Trump's complaint about Canadian milk this week may have been brasher, louder, and certainly more public, it carried a familiar ring to the circle of people who sat in on Trudeau meetings with Obama.

Repeat interventions on this issue from two decidedly different presidents make clear this irritant isn't new; it isn't going away easily; and it's liable to become part of a broader dispute about dairy in upcoming NAFTA negotiations.

https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2017/04/19/obama-trump-canada-dairy_n_16112740.html

[mr_lebowski]

1. Yes, well 'less brash, loud, and public' ... is how DIPLOMACY is DONE ...

Nobody is claiming that the US has no legitimate complaints wrt our trade partners, but guess what? They most surely also have their own stuff they grouse wrt what the US does, we just don't hear of it. Much of it is likely legit.

This stuff is supposed to be handled in an adult manner, which in turn, generally requires ADULTS. Which we lack sorely in the US ATM.

Dump probably got the 'idea' from Obama and is now obsessing on 'winning where Obama couldn't' because deep down he knows he's about .0000000001 of the MAN that Obama was and his insecurity about this fact absolutely consumes the very fiber of his being.

[oberliner]

6. Yes, exactly

Obama had these concerns but knew how to express them diplomatically.

[MyOwnPeace]

31. Yes, that's it!

"Winning where Obama couldn't" - I'm sure we'll hear more about that when IQ45 has nothing else to brag about after this latest fiasco!

[Orsino]

2. It's almost as though Trump has to be told what to do, or something. n/t

[oberliner]

7. Yes, Trump knows nothing

He gets worked up when he sees something on TV but has zero knowledge of the issues and certainly no depth of understanding.

[OregonBlue]

33. I suspect Vlad is giving him his daily marching orders. They talk every day apparently.

[tavernier]

3. Well I won that bet with myself.

[oberliner]

9. Not sure what this means, but am curious to know your thoughts on the dairy tariff

Seems like Obama had a point - and had Trump not been such a bumbling dufus, this might have even been an area of compromise.

[SidDithers]

18. Me too...

Sid

[RhodeIslandOne]

27. You too, eh?

[NCTraveler]

32. +1

[Kingofalldems]

34. Yep--the obligatory Obama did it too thread.

[grantcart]

35. I gave myself a cookie.

[Demsrule86]

4. Well Pres. Obama and Shitler are the same of course. I suppose you are agree with creating jobs in

China as well which of course will stimulate us somehow (rolls eyes)

[oberliner]

10. Huh?

This is about the Canadian dairy tariff that Obama opposed. Trump doesn't know what he is doing and is ruining a chance to get a reasonable compromise on this issue from Canada (which would have been possible with an actual adult in charge).

[Demsrule86]

15. This is about trade and Trump is a trainwreck. Pres. Obama didn't slap on tariffs without even a

strategy and protecting your industry is not wrong in my opinion. If we did so, we would not have lost our manufacturing base. Trump is cozying up to dictators while going after our allies at Putin's bidding.. President Obama understood diplomacy and to compare him to Trump is ridiculous and helps Trump....Oh Obama did it too.

[Freethinker65]

5. Yep. The Obama admin. felt Canada was unfair to the US dairy industry

Canada protects its dairy industry by limiting imports. We happen to often overproduce dairy.

We protect many of our industries the same way.

The problem with Trump/Trump administration is that he has no idea how to negotiate anything on the world stage and he has no grasp of the actual trade numbers. He often admits to making shit up. His threats of demanding everything 100% his way are seen for what they are...bluffs to pump up his alpha male credentials and give him something to brag about at rallies and on Twitter. Up until now, the world has tried to just let him go on with the crazy idle threats of a showman. The G6 leaders know this and have finally banded together to call his bluff and humiliate him. The United States will suffer as it becomes more isolated.

[oberliner]

11. Well said

Agree on all points.

[Volaris]

20. This might seem a very stupid question, but how is it that we OVERPRODUCE dairy?

Can't we just give the cows an extra day off?, I'm sure they'd appreciate it lol...

[Freethinker65]

23. Biology. Milk that is produced needs to be expressed.

Farmers in the Midwest were dumping excess milk into the ground.

They had several years of overproduction. I do not know if that is because of an over supply of dairy cattle, a decrease in US consumer consumption, or just a fluke of optimum conditions for milk production (better grazing conditions due to weather, etc.).

[Volaris]

25. Gotcha. Ok, thanks

[Blue_true]

45. Reduced consumer demand due to the success of recent milk substitutes.

All types of milk substitute drinks can be found in supermarkets now, from unflavored to flavors of all types.

[Blue_true]

44. Milk price supports insulate diary farmers from market forces.

It is more difficult for a farmer to fail, go bankrupt and quit the business, so a lot of marginal operations continue to pump milk into the market. In addition, milk substitutes have gotten better and are taking large chunks of the milk market away for good.

[LuckyCharms]

8. So what.

[oberliner]

12. So it's a shame we don't have a competent, reasonable president to address this issue

Because it is a legitimate one. Sadly, we have a POTUS who has no concept of diplomacy.

[LuckyCharms]

13. It's a shame your OP title does not give a hint of that.

[smirkymonkey]

14. Really? Do we really fucking need this right now?

[Demsrule86]

16. Always the same thing.

[smirkymonkey]

17. It's so tiresome.

[Demsrule86]

21. It really is.

[RhodeIslandOne]

28. I feel like it's spreading faster though....

....like the endgame is near.

[Demsrule86]

36. I hope so.

[oberliner]

19. We absolutely do

There are still real issues that are important to American citizens. We can't just pretend they don't exist because we have Trump in charge. Decisions are being made that impact every day Americans. As much as we despise Trump, we should hope that he stumbles his way into doing one or two things that Obama would have also done.

[PubliusEnigma]

26. You despise Trump?

[Demsrule86]

37. I want nothing to for shitler...and all he wants is to destabilize Canada...and I don't blame

Canada for not allowing the US to dump milk which is what Shitler wants.

[Blue_true]

46. You make a point.

The very large American milk market has undergone permanent structural changes with the advent if better and better non milk milk substitute drinks. Many consumers no longer drink milk, many still do buy other milk based products. The change in milk consumption, coupled with marginal dairy farming operations staying in business led to problems with US supply. The big issue is with ultra filtered milk, which dairy farmers have been dumping into Canada until Canadian provinces changed their pricing scheme for the Canadian equivalent, a tariff was NEVER placed on the USA product, Canada simply made the market more attractive to their producers by lowering price targets for the product.

[Demsrule86]

47. That is right.

[workinclasszero]

22. Is this Whataboutism and/or "both party's are the same"?

I'm confused.

[Demsrule86]

38. Both...another dig on Pres. Obama, also they are the same...and a give shitler a chance.

No to all...

[workinclasszero]

39. Yeah I figured it was one of them at least

Nothing like coming to Democratic Underground to see the last real President we had getting slapped around while the republican fascist pig-in-charge gets a pass huh?

[Demsrule86]

40. It really pisses me off...don't understand how these posts are still here.

[workinclasszero]

41. It's insane for these people to play their 'democrats are not holy enough' games

when republicans are voting to destroy the CHIP program for sick kids, Trump is slapping our closest allies in the face and starting trade wars with them, DACA kids are being deported back to countries they left as toddlers and being murdered, store owners are posting "NO GAYS ALLOWED" in their store windows, Trump's administration is trying to get coverage for pre-existing conditions declared unconstitutional, etc and that was just today!!

There is only ONE PARTY that has a chance to save this country from Trump and his minions from hell GOP and that is the democratic party!!!!

These OR and green people are doing nothing but helping Trump and his party hold on to power and it makes me SICK!

[Demsrule86]

42. Yes. We need a Democrat primary. I would go so far as to say those who are independents

should not run as Democrats in the presidential primary in 20.

[MrsCoffee]

24. Trying to reach a new low everyday.

I guess it would be best just to block this crap out of my DU experience.

[ecstatic]

29. This highlights the professionalism of President Obama

compared to dump. Thanks for sharing.

[leftstreet]

30. The only people who should be drinking milk are baby cows

[Blue_true]

43. The big problem with diary is over production.

Milk substitutes started out as crap, but taste much better and have the appeal of being healthier.

The issue with Canada centers around ultra filtered milk. The US used to export a lot of the milk remains to Canada (a lot of the cream is going, leaving more milk proteins), but the volume reached such a high level that Canadian milk producers started to whine, so one province after another reset the price of Canadian ultra filtered milk, making it more competitive than the American imported stuff, causing users in Canada to buy the Canadian product and freeze the USA out. Milk over production has been a consistent problem for close to four decades, what need to be done is diary farmers either go bankrupt, or the government step in and buy their herds as long as they exit diary farming for good.