EDITOR’S NOTE: This article has been updated to include a statement from the Egg Farmers of Canada that the egg data provided by U.S. officials reflects the export of a range of types of eggs but does not include eggs from laying hens.
As the U.S. grapples with soaring egg prices, that country’s agriculture secretary says “temporary import options” will be on the table.
In an op-ed written for the Wall Street Journal, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins outlined her plan to lower the price of eggs – a key issue for American voters in an election that saw Donald Trump return to the White House.
In the op-ed, Rollins noted that the average price of a dozen eggs had skyrocketed 237 per cent, from US$1.47 in January 2021 to US$4.95 last month. Rollins outlined several measures that the Trump administration would take, including combating avian flu, which she said has resulted in the culling of 166 million egg-laying hens since 2022.
Among the measures she proposed was importing more eggs.
“We will consider temporary import options to reduce egg costs in the short term. We will proceed with imports only if the eggs meet stringent U.S. safety standards and if we determine that doing so won’t jeopardize American farmers’ access to markets in the future,” she said in her opinion piece.
Canada is the largest foreign source of eggs in the United States.
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According to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Canada accounted for around 42 per cent of all foreign eggs sent to the United States in 2023, the last year for which data is available.
Total egg imports to the U.S. were worth US$128.8 million.
Canada made up US$54.2 million of that.
However, a spokesperson for Eggs Farmers of Canada clarified that the USDA data does not include eggs from hens.
“It’s important to note that this USDA classification represents a broad cross section of egg varieties, such as quail, duck and hatching eggs and egg products. In 2024 Canada did not export any shell eggs from laying hens (the eggs that consumers purchase at locations like grocery stores),” the spokesperson told Global News in a statement, adding that data is the same for 2023.
The statement added, “Egg processors export a small volume of liquid eggs to the US. These downstream supply chain activities represent a small portion of total exports to the US, which is equivalent to approximately US$10.1 million worth of exports.”
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The next biggest exporters were the United Kingdom (US$16.9 million) and the Netherlands (US$15.3 million).
A spokesperson for Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay told Global News they had not yet received any request for eggs from the United States, however, Canada would be open to helping.
“We haven’t been approached on this, but we’re always happy to discuss how we can support our trading partners,” the spokesperson said.
This comes as the trade relationship between Canada and the United States is fraught, with Trump threatening to hit his country’s closest trading partner with broad-based, sweeping tariffs.
Trump’s threatened tariffs, which are expected to hit Canada on Tuesday, would place a flat 25 per cent levy on all goods imported to the United States from Canada.
Trump said in January that the U.S. doesn’t “need” many of the products Canada exports.
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