The elimination of tariffs on corn trade between the United States and Canada,
first under the U.S.-Canada Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and later under the North
American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), have facilitated corn imports into
Canada from the United States and strengthened the integration of the North
American livestock feeding industry. Since 1989, over 99% of Canada’s corn
imports have come from the United States. During the 1990s, U.S. corn exports to
Canada averaged less than 1 MMT per year; since 2000, they have averaged almost
2.8 MMT per year.5
The surge in imports of U.S. corn occurred at a time when U.S. government
program payments to the corn sector were also growing (Figure 2). During the
1990s, U.S. corn program payments averaged $2.8 billion per year; since 2000 they
have essentially doubled in size to an average of $5.5 billion per year. The increases
in both U.S. corn program payments and imports of U.S. corn drew the attention and
ire of Canada’s corn-producing sector, which claimed that U.S. corn exports were
being facilitated by large U.S. government payments and being sold into Canada at
less than the cost of production.