(2 Apr 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Windsor, Ontario – 2 April 2025
1. Various of Dainty Foods CEO James Maitland watching President Donald Trump’s tariffs announcement
2. SOUNDBITE (English) James Maitland, Dainty Foods CEO:
“Rice will be exempted under the USMCA. So, we will not be facing a tariff going into the U.S., but automotive and steel and aluminum are still subject to the tariffs. So, we need to be very, very conscious of our community and our family members here at Dainty and how we support them, since we have so many team members with family tied to the automotive.”
3. Various of rice packets moving along a conveyor belt and being processed
4. SOUNDBITE (English) James Maitland, Dainty Foods CEO:
“We are Canada’s only rice mill. We’ve been Canada’s only rice mill since 1882. We’re a 142-year-old company. And we import rices from all over the world, including the United States.”
5. Various of packets moving through the process
6. SOUNDBITE (English) James Maitland, Dainty Foods CEO:
“We are still working with the government to get an exemption, because Canada doesn’t grow its own rice. We’re still seeing a 25% hit on about 70% of the rice we buy coming up from the U.S. So, we need to work through that exemption to find a solution for both our Canadian customers and our American customers that we send the product back to, so.”
7. Various of a Dainty Foods employee at work
8. SOUNDBITE (English) James Maitland, Dainty Foods CEO:
“Because we import from the U.S., we’re already paying tariffs here in Canada. So, we’re paying 25% tariffs on the rice we bring up from the U.S. Majority of the rice comes from Arkansas, but we also source from Louisiana and Texas, as well. So, we’ve been trying to dwindle down our inventories and minimize how much we bring in today until we can find a solution to the tariffs.”
9. A machine sorts rice packets
STORYLINE:
The CEO of Canada’s only rice mill said he’s relieved his company was spared a second tariff when President Donald Trump announced sweeping new levies.
James Maitland watched nervously on his office computer as Trump held an event Wednesday at the White House.
Spared for the moment from the latest round of tariffs was Canada, so far as goods that already qualified under its free trade agreement with the United States.
“Rice will be exempted under the USMCA. So, we will not be facing a tariff going into the U.S., but automotive and steel and aluminum are still subject to the tariffs,” Maitland said during an interview at the company’s offices in Windsor, Ontario, just across the border from Detroit.
Canada had imposed retaliatory tariffs in response to the 25% tariffs that Trump tied to the trafficking of fentanyl.
Those are still in effect for Dainty, which imports rice from Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas, and sells its product in the U.S.
Maitland plans to request an exemption from the Canadian government, considering Dainty’s standing as the nation’s only rice producer.
“We’re still seeing a 25% hit on about 70% of the rice we buy coming up from the U.S.,” he said. “So, we need to work through that exemption to find a solution for both our Canadian customers and our American customers that we send the product back to.”
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