Newsroom
2006
Bilateral trade agreements leaving Canada out in cold, farm groups warn
March 9, 2006
Winnipeg - Bilateral trade agreements between the U.S. and Canada's traditional customers are leaving Canadian farmers out in the cold, warns a coalition of Canadian agriculture groups including the CWB.
"Currently, our closest competitors (mostly the United States) are aggressively negotiating free trade agreements, giving them preferential market access over Canada," says a letter sent this week to federal trade minister David Emerson. "As a result, Canada's competitiveness in these markets is being eroded and a substantial portion of Canadian agricultural exports will be negatively impacted."
The letter is signed by representatives of the Canadian Wheat Board, the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, Canada Pork International, the Canada Pork Council, the Canadian Grain and Oilseed Exporters Association, the Canola Council of Canada, the Canadian Oilseed Processors Association, Cavendish Farms and Pulse Canada.
"We just cannot afford to have our customers picked off one at a time," said Adrian Measner, president and CEO of the CWB. "Export markets for our wheat and barley represent $3 billion to $4.5 billion each year for Canadian farmers and the national economy.
"We don't dispute that the World Trade Organization negotiations are extremely important but, as we've been stressing to the federal government for a couple of years now, our competitors are doing an end run into Canada's traditional markets."
A free trade agreement between the U.S. and Morocco came into effect this year and is to be implemented in the next few months. The agreement gives American producers preferential access to the Moroccan markets, which will hit Canadian durum producers hard. Canada typically sells 400 000 tonnes of durum a year into Morocco.
The U.S. has also recently concluded free trade agreements with Peru and Columbia, putting Canadian wheat and barley exports at a significant tariff disadvantage. In the case of wheat and barley, Canada faces a 15-17 per cent tariff.
Canada should initiate bilateral trade negotiations on an expedited basis, says the letter, with the following priority countries and regions: China, Japan, the Andean countries (Columbia, Ecuador, Peru), India and Morocco.
"If Canada continues to put all its eggs in the WTO basket, there's no doubt Canadian producers will be left out in the cold. A WTO agreement will not fix the competitive disadvantage created by competitors' bilateral trade agreements," said Measner.
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.
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