Trumps Tariffs Slow Americas Access to Canadas Cheese

Cheese nerds are an excitable bunch.These days, if you want to see them get superexcited, just mention Canada.Their eyes will light up as they tell you about the haul of gold, silver and bronze medals Canadian cheesemakers took home from the American Cheese Society awards in 2024 and 2025, including best-in-show honors two years in a row.They may swoon over the organic operation at Fromagerie La Station in Compton, Quebec, where animal welfare is taken so seriously that the 150 milking cows rest on water beds after grazing in rolling Appalachian foothills 100 miles east of Montreal.

They may chuckle as they talk about idiosyncratic characters like Jean Morin, the cheesemaker at Fromagerie du Presbytère, who converted a historic church into an aging cave where the wheels are turned by robots and who helped set a Guinness World Record for the largest serving of poutine.(It weighed more than three tons.)Most exciting of all, they’ll tell you, is that these products and others are now for sale in the United States, many of them for the first time.

“Some of these cheeses are as good as any in the world,” said Brad Dubé, who imports and distributes several through his Brooklyn-based firm, Food Matters Again.Then, if you want to see how quickly excitement can change to a different emotion, ask about tariffs.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe....