The free trade deal between Canada and the European Union
will start to kick into place Sept. 21, officials said following a weekend agreement
But 17,000 tonnes of cheese imports remain in play in Canada
with huge profits at issue for those who gain Canadian import permits.
Cheese import permit holders can buy at relatively low
world-market prices and sell at relatively high tariff-protected Canadian
market prices.
Not all permit holders actually import themselves; some “rent”
their rights to others.
Canada’s dairy farmers have been lobbying hard over the
import permits, worrying that the imports will increase competition in the
Canadian cheese market and take markets and profits farmers currently enjoy.
One lobbying goal the dairy farmers set early in the
negotiations was to gain the import permits for their own marketing boards, but
Europeans strenuously objected.
There were apparently two issues left at the end of
negotiations – the cheese import quotas and patent protection for Canadian
pharmaceutical companies.
