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According to President Trump, Canada’s dairy industry is ‘disgraceful’ and has forced dairy farmers in New York and Wisconsin to go out of business. But local farmers and economists say America has only itself to blame and are wondering if the President has even looked at the numbers.

“The fact of the matter is, is that we’re already accepting way more dairy products into Canada than Canada is exporting into the states.” Ben Loewith, dairy farmer.

Canada brought in nearly one billion dollars in American dairy products last year, while the U.S. imported just a hair above $112 million of Canadian products.

Trump’s verbal shot followed meetings with 75 Wisconsin dairy farmers who were told by their processor Grassland dairy that their milk wasn’t needed anymore.

For years Grassland dairy had sold ultra-filtered milk, an ingredient used to make cheese, to Canadian producers at a lower price and tariff free. Recently, Canada decided to lower the price of it’s own ultra-filtered milk, thus, ending it’s contract with Grassland.

“This irritated the Americans because they had this advantage for so many years and now they’re facing a competitive group of farmers in Canada.” Atif Kubursi, economist.

Ben Loewith, a third-generation dairy farmer, says that America’s real problem is that they’re making too much milk and have no where to put it. Such a cycle hasn’t happened in Canada for decades because dairy farmers follow a supply management system that dictates how much dairy is produced to meet domestic demands.

Ben says if by chance Canada opts to bring in more American dairy, that could actually put the Canadian dairy industry in jeopardy. That doesn’t appear to be an option according to the Prime Minister.