Americans are challenging Canada’s free trade agreement with
the European Union because it reduces their access to the Canadian cheese
market.
First, they complain that Canada is reducing the quota for
U.S. cheeses that can enter Canada under reduced tariffs by 800 tonnes a year.
That goes to Europeans.
Second, they complain that the Canada-E.U. deal bans the use
of several names for cheeses to be marketed in Canada.
The trade deal has yet to take effect because it faces a few
more hurdles, such as clearing up some details and gaining approvals from all
European governments and Canadian provinces.
The
U.S. Dairy Export Council is the main American challenger. Others include Darigold,
Seattle, Wash.; Dairy Farmers of America, Kansas City, Mo.; Emmi Roth USA,
Monroe, Wis.; Fonterra (USA) Inc., Rosemont, Ill.; Gellert Global Group,
Elizabeth, N.J.; International Dairy Foods Association, Washington, D.C.; Kraft
Foods Group, Inc., Northfield, Ill.; Land O' Lakes Inc., St. Paul, Minn.;
Norseland, Darien, Conn.; Sartori Cheese, Plymouth, Wis.; Tipico Products,
Lakewood, N.J.; Trugman Nash Inc., Millburn, N.J.; and Wisconsin Cheese Makers
Association, Madison, Wis.
The Americans
also say this deal violates the 1994 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade,
which bars countries from using free trade agreements to restrict trade.
In a
mid-August letter to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and Agriculture
Secretary Tom Vilsack, the organizations said the Canadian plan, included in a
pending Canada-European Union free trade agreement, would give the E.U.
exclusive access to more than 70 percent of Canada's Most Favored Nation cheese
imports.
"The
Canada-E.U. free trade agreement was already problematic because it bars U.S.
companies from using several common cheese names on products headed across our
northern border," said Tom Suber, president of the U.S. Dairy Export
Council. "And now it is clear that the same FTA would reserve 800 tons of
an already low quota for cheese imports for the EU."
"This
is not just bad policy," said Ken Meyers of MCT Dairies, a company in the
coalition. "It flies in the face of what free trade agreements are all
about. They are supposed to open trade, not restrict it."
"We
expect to pick up support from more U.S. cheese companies as word of Canada's
latest proposal trade restriction gets around," added Tom Gellert, vice
president of Atalanta Corporation, another coalition company.
