The President of HyLife says he is concerned about the trade disagreement between the U.S. and China. The U.S. recently imposed tariffs on steel and aluminium from China.
 
The Chinese retaliated Monday with tariffs on a number of items including a 25 per cent tariff on pork. Claude Vielfaure says it remains to be seen how this will affect the market but adds trade disputes are generally not good.
2018 04 claude vielfaure
HyLife President Claude Vielfaure
 
 

"In North America, we export a lot of pork. We export a lot out of Canada but also, the U.S. exports a lot of pork and we compete for the same countries and a lot of the same markets. We don't like trade disturbances because it will shift things. If the U.S. can't sell pork to China, they'll sell it somewhere else which will either push other people out of those markets or somewhere else and so it's just going to create a lot of disturbance. That is a concern. It may be an opportunity for Canada also. But, generally, for us, we'd just rather have no trade disagreements and that trade continues the same for everybody."

Vielfaure notes China is a market where they sell parts of pigs that are mostly low value and which are generally not consumed in Canada. But regardless, he says if there is a change in the world market due to a trade disagreement, it can be very disruptive.

"I don't know how it's going to affect the whole marketplace but again, once you shut somebody out of a market, they will find other areas that they're going to sell it to which will then disrupt other areas."