Canada’s mustard lobby has succeeded in getting the popular condiment removed from the country’s list of products subject to retaliatory tariffs on U.S. products.
Mustard had initially made the proposed list of Canadian retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods, but the federal government in Ottawa dropped it just before the tariffs took effect July 1, cutting Canadian mustard seed farmers a break.
Several industry groups lobbied Ottawa to get certain items taken off its hit list. And while boats, dishwashers and ketchup imported from the U.S. still face a 10% tariff, the cries of Canada's mustard lobby were successfully heard.
The industry feared that the mustard tariff could have driven down prices for mustard seed exports to its biggest customer, the U.S. — or, even worse, that the United States would retaliate with tariffs on Canadian mustard seed.
Canada is the world's largest producer of mustard seed, thanks to ideal growing conditions in the western prairie region. It's also the world's biggest exporter of mustard seed. In 2017, Canada sold $120 million worth of mustard seed abroad, more than half of it going to the U.S.
Canada then buys back the finished product. French's — the top-selling mustard brand in Canada — is manufactured in the U.S. but is made entirely with Canadian mustard seed.
