"China is hell-bent on world domination," and additional tariffs on the country would hurt the dairy industry, exclaimed Eric Traupe, former assistant director of the CIA for the Near East, during a Jan. 28 lunch session speech at IDFA Dairy Forum in San Antonio.

During his speech, entitled "Navigating Global Viability: Intelligence Insights for Dairy Leaders," China will return any U.S. tariffs in a "boomerang" effect, Traupe noted, and trade between the two countries would likely drop further.

Traupe then proceeded to discuss Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) platform DeepSeek, whose launch roiled U.S. stock markets only one day prior to his speech.

"Things in China are never as they seem. They say it cost $6 million [to produce the platform]. You can probably add a couple of zeros to that," he said. "Some [things China does] are purely psychological warfare on the new administration and tech companies."

Shifting gears to potential tariffs placed on Canada and Mexico, Traupe said such an action would be "devastating" for U.S. dairy, noting Mexico is the No. 1 exporter and Canada the No. 8 exporter of these goods. 

"Tariffs on these countries could be a $200 billion hit to U.S. GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and inflation will rise," he noted. 

Traupe did point out the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Algeria could provide excellent export opportunities for dairy processors in the future. 

Regarding leadership, Traupe borrowed the James Mattis quote that "leaders are readers." He added that dairy leaders should follow the four "Ps:" pause: "take time and be deliberate; process: "think about what something will look like and then come up with a plan;" Plan; and proceed: "You must have conviction when making decisions."

"You do something great and employ many," Traupe told dairy leaders. "I want to thank you."