Newsroom
2005
U.S. trade offer will not curtail American farm subsidies
October 24, 2005
Winnipeg - Close review of a U.S. trade offer released this month shows it would have almost no effect on current or future American spending on subsidies paid to U.S. farmers, which have grossly distorted the international agricultural trade."This offer will not help level the playing field for western Canadian farmers," said CWB farmer director Larry Hill, who has just returned from World Trade Organization talks in Geneva."The Americans' proposal would not bite into their spending levels much at all," he said. "The cuts they've offered would really only reduce the allowable limits for spending, which are still well above their current bloated pay-outs to U.S. farmers.
"No one should be fooled into thinking that this represents a major cut to real dollars being spent."
The Americans have proposed cutting 60 per cent from their "aggregate measure of support" and 53 per cent from overall trade-distorting support for farmers. Even during the highest spending year of 1999-2000, this would only have reduced real spending by about five per cent. Current levels, as well as predicted future levels of spending on U.S. farm support, would not be significantly affected.
"This has been called a 'serious contribution' because of the need for new momentum in the stalled trade talks," said Hill, a farmer from Swift Current who chairs the CWB board of directors' trade committee. "But from what I could see in Geneva, progress towards a world trade deal is still very slow."
Hill met with Canadian ministers of trade and agriculture at the WTO meetings to help ensure that the interests of western Canadian grain farmers are upheld during the talks.
Hill said it was crucial that WTO members understand Canada has already made significant concessions in the talks - including the elimination of CWB financial guarantees if a WTO agreement is ultimately reached. They must be assured of meaningful
concessions from other countries in return.
"This last American proposal does not contain those meaningful cuts," Hill said. "There's no point pretending otherwise."
The U.S. has also demanded that the CWB's single-desk marketing structure be placed on the negotiating table, even though it does not distort trade - a fact supported by several international rulings.
Hill said the Americans cannot be allowed to dictate what sort of marketing system is used by western Canadian farmers, who have always been shown to be fair traders - most recently in a NAFTA appeal that will remove a prohibitive U.S. tariff on
Canadian hard red spring wheat.
"This is an issue for Prairie farmers alone to decide," he said. "It's our grain, it's our country, it's our marketing system. We shouldn't have to give up something that isn't trade distorting to get the biggest offenders to reform their trade-distorting policies."
Controlled by western Canadian farmers, the CWB is the largest wheat and barley marketer in the world. As one of Canada's biggest exporters, the Winnipeg-based organization sells to over 70 countries and returns all sales revenue, less marketing costs, to Prairie farmers.
For more information, please contact:
Maureen Fitzhenry
CWB media relations manager
Tel: (204) 983-3101
Cell: (204) 479-2451