Trade relations between Canada and the U.S. took a
decided turn for the worse this week when Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz spoke
with a Reuters news agency reporting in Saskatoon.
Ritz accused the U.S. of acting like a “schoolyard bully”
in calling for concessions over supply-managed dairy and poultry trade and
calling on Japan to open its agriculture markets.
Ritz said he sees more promise in negotiating a
bilateral deal with Japan than the more ambitious Trans-Pacific Partnership,
Reuters reported.
Ritz also said it would take a “sea shift” for Canada to
offer significantly more access to its dairy, egg, chicken, turkey and hatching
egg markets.
Ritz’s comments come in the context of Japan saying in
May that it will not abolish tariffs in five key agricultural sectors and a
response last week from U.S. dairy farmers who said they will oppose the pact if
Japan and Canada fail to accept substantially more dairy imports.
“I don’t entertain any such thing in the near future,”
Ritz said. “I don’t see a win for us for doing that. Politically, it’s
kryptonite.”
Canada agreed last year to expand quotas for European
cheese imports, but that’s opposed by dairy farmers and the details remain
under negotiation.
Canada’s sensitivity in those areas is no different than
sugar and cotton for U.S. negotiators, Ritz said.
“If they want to throw mud, they should probably not be
living in a glass house themselves,” Ritz said, escalating the war of words.
The chances of TPP reaching an agreement look “50-50,”
Ritz said.
Ritz said without U.S. congressional authority to sign
any agreement and the fact some TPP countries are upset with the U.S., “a
bilateral deal like we’ve got with Korea now, directly with Japan, is far
better.”
“It’s hard to have respect for the stance the Americans
are taking on TPP when you look in the rear view mirror and you’ve got
(country-of-origin labeling) staring at you,” Ritz said.
Some trade analysts say U.S. negotiators are hampered by
a lack of fast-track negotiating authority, which would give the White House
the power to push trade deals through Congress without amendments. A bipartisan
bill was introduced this year but is in limbo ahead of U.S. mid-term elections
in November.
Meanwhile, Ritz will visit China next week. Canada is
keen to expand beef exports to China, which currently accepts only Canadian
boneless beef from cattle under 30 months of age. The immediate goal is to gain
access for bone-in beef from the same cattle, Ritz said.
