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Trump has attacked Canada’s ultimate sacred cow, our protected dairy farms, in the lead-up to trade talks.

This is nothing new but what has changed is that Canada’s cows are on the radar screens of other prominent politicians south of the border. Most significantly, House leader Paul Ryan is from the dairy state of Wisconsin and House Intelligence Committee Chair Devin Nunes is a California dairy farmer. Both are Trump allies.

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Negotiations over NAFTA “tweaks” must win Congressional approval and while the cows may not, and should not, be a deal breaker, Canada may be forced to give up something else that is more important at the negotiating table.

And that list is long and worrisome, say trade watchers.

This is another reason why Canada should phase out its protectionist dairy system that guarantees farmers excessive prices and protects them with tariffs on imports as high as 300 per cent.