Minister's Column
Where We Stand in the WTO Agriculture Negotiations
By Chuck Strahl,
Minister of Agriculture and Agri-food
and Minister for the Canadian Wheat Board
April 2006
On April 24th, the Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Pascal Lamy, announced that the deadline of April 30th for reaching an agreement on detailed rules and commitments (or "modalities") in the agriculture negotiations was not going to be met. Mr. Lamy decided that he would not convene a meeting of Ministers in early May since Members were strongly of the view that the negotiations have not yet arrived at a stage to make such a meeting worthwhile. Significant gaps remain between the positions of key players on some important issues.
Along with many others, I was quite disappointed with the news, as I had been looking forward to rolling up my sleeves and working with my colleagues from other countries in the hope of making some real headway on trade issues that are critically important to our agriculture sector.
While we're disappointed with not meeting the April 30th deadline, important progress has been made and we are confident that these rules and commitments can be reached with the necessary political will and through intensive negotiations over the coming weeks.
Canada's active participation at the WTO is a big part of achieving long-term prosperity for our agriculture sector. We're committed to the WTO and to achieving a successful conclusion to the Doha Round. We're working hard in the negotiations to get an agreement that will lead to a more level international playing field for our producers and processors. We're pushing for this agreement to eliminate export subsidies, substantially reduce domestic subsidies that distort trade and significantly increase market access.
While Canada stands to make real gains at the WTO, like many countries, Canada is facing pressures in the negotiations in some areas. For instance, at the WTO Canada is continuing to face significant pressure on key issues of importance to our supply management system. Nevertheless, we remain committed to aggressively defending our interests. The Government strongly supports Canada's supply management system, and will continue to stand in support of this system, which we believe is, and will continue to be, a successful choice for Canada's dairy, poultry and egg producers.
In addition, at the WTO Canada will continue to face pressure on the issue of the Canadian Wheat Board's (CWB) single desk. The Government supports a dual marketing structure for Prairie grain producers. However, at the WTO, Canada's position remains that decisions on the future of its marketing structure should be made in Canada, and not by our international trading partners.
Today, Canadian farmers are among the most innovative and productive in the world. We realize, however, that emerging global competitors with a lower cost of production thanks to cheap land, labour and crop inputs - as well as favourable weather conditions - are becoming increasingly strong competitors.
The response of some traditional agricultural powers - particularly the U.S. and the European Union - has been to protect their farmers by introducing subsidies that shield them from lower commodity prices while encouraging production to remain high. Clearly, this approach is unfair and harmful, not only to our producers, but to those farmers in the developing world who have difficulty exporting their products even as their markets are flooded with cheap U.S. and European Union products.
On April 20th I was down in Washington where I met with United States Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns. We had a wide-ranging discussion that included the WTO and our common goal to bring subsidies down and increase market access for all countries. We agreed to meet at least once a year and that Canadian officials and industry will continue to work with their American counterparts to ensure the long-term profitability of producers in both of our countries.
The WTO negotiations offer real potential opportunities for Canadian agriculture. The Government of Canada remains committed to working closely with other WTO Members, as well as with provinces and the full range of Canada's agriculture and agri-food industry stakeholders, towards completing the WTO negotiations by the end of 2006. This remains an achievable goal. As the negotiations proceed, Canada will continue to press for the best possible outcome at the WTO for our entire agriculture sector.