Canadian goat cheese producer faces crisis amid U.S. Tariffs

“It was announced on September 8th and the tariffs came in on September 15th. We had six days notice, six days,” explained Bruce VandenBerg.

President Donald Trump imposed a 50 per cent tariff on various Canadian goods, including goat dairy products, in September. Mariposa Dairy sends 80 per cent of its output to the U.S., supplying private-label products to major retailers like Costco and Trader Joe’s.

The tariffs are reportedly costing the company roughly $1 million per week, a burden shared across the supply chain. “Everybody’s trying to take a little piece of the pain in order to try to make this work,” stated Mariposa Dairy CEO Mark Anderson.

While the company has not yet reached a breaking point, the situation is becoming increasingly precarious. The company is obligated to continue purchasing milk from the approximately 50,000 goats across Ontario that supply it. “The goats milk every day,” Anderson added. “So we got to keep taking the milk, and it needs to flow because it doesn’t have anywhere else to go.”

If the trade dispute persists, farmers may be forced to cull portions of their herds. Farmer Gabe Benschop, who manages a herd of 800 goats, warned, “If this trade policy does not get figured out, there will be a lot of goats culled.”

Domestic demand within Canada is insufficient to absorb the volume of cheese produced, while the United States relies on imports to meet its demand. “They probably need to import 30 to 35 per cent of their goat cheese in order to meet their demand,” Anderson noted.

One of Mariposa’s distributors, New Jersey-based Gellert Global Group, has initiated a lawsuit against Trump and the U.S. government seeking to overturn the tariffs. Gellert typically imports around US$80 million of Canadian cheese annually.

Bruce VandenBerg expressed hope for a resolution. “I’m really hopeful that in the first part of the new year, common sense kicks into place. We expanded based on a 16-year CUSMA agreement, and here we are in year six.” The lawsuit is scheduled for a hearing in January, but the company requires either a negotiated solution or financial assistance to survive until then.