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Home   The Ambassador Canada's chief representatives to the U.S. Michael Kergin Ambassador Kergin's Letters Ambassador Kergin's Letter to Trade Bill Conferees Outlining Concerns on the Breaux Thomas Amendment
501 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20001
February 28, 2002 The Honorable Peter G. Fitzgerald
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510 Dear Senator Fitzgerald, I am writing to express the Canadian Government's concerns with the Breaux Thomas amendment to the Trade Adjustment Assistance bill (S. 1209). In our view, by requiring the President to re-classify commodities under tariff rate quotas (TRQs), this proposed legislation would represent a clear breach of U.S. international trade obligations. The immediate objective of this measure is to increase to a prohibitive level the applicable import tariff on Canadian exports of sugar syrups. This, in and of itself, violates the commitments made by the United States in the Uruguay Round. Moreover, the amendment has much broader implications and could apply to any imported commodity from any country that the Secretary of Agriculture might list under the TRQs of chapters 17, 18, 19 or 21 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States. The potential to re-classify products into a trade-restrictive category without regard to established WTO process would constitute a serious infraction of U.S. international trade obligations. The TRQs, which WTO members have agreed to bind, are based on the internationally agreed Harmonized System of tariff classification. Accordingly, any WTO member instituting a broad policy of arbitrarily reclassifying products, including newly invented products, into a higher rate of duty would violate the trade rules to which that country has agreed, to the detriment of a stable and predictable trading system. We urge you to consider the far-reaching implications of such a policy and ensure that this trade-restrictive measure does not become law. Should the bill be passed, Canada would take steps to defend its interests, including the option of an immediate challenge under the relevant provisions of international trade agreements. Yours sincerely,
Michael Kergin
Ambassador | 
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