SASKATOON – U.S. members of the joint commission on Canada-U.S. grain trade are feeling the political heat at home, says a commission member from North Dakota.
Alan Bergman, one of five Americans on the 10-person commission, said members are being pressured to ensure that limits remain in place on Canadian wheat imports when the existing quotas expire in September.
“Without a doubt there is a fair amount of political pressure both from elected officials and farm groups in this country,” he said. “I think the commission is realizing we have to deal with that issue.”
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While the commission’s job is to propose long-term solutions to bilateral grain trade problems, many groups in the U.S. want it to come up with short-term measures to deal with the situation after Sept. 12, when the cap runs out.
Government will step in
U.S. trade representative Mickey Kantor told those lobbyists what they wanted to hear during a recent appearance before the U.S. Senate finance committee. He said if the commission doesn’t deal with the issue, the U.S. government will.
“We hope the commission comes up with a reasonable solution … to solve this problem finally, but if they don’t, we are going to keep these tariff rate quotas in place,” he said.
Canadian co-chair of the commission Bill Miner downplayed the impact the statements had on the commission’s work.
“It doesn’t surprise me to hear that coming from a political level,” he said, adding the key issue is whether the commission can come up with what Kantor called a “reasonable solution.
“That’s what we’re pursuing and we believe we’re going to have a good report.”
The deal signed last August allows shipments of about 1.5 million tonnes of prairie wheat and durum to be exported to the U.S. in 1994-95 at existing tariff levels. High tariffs come into force on any additional shipments.
North Dakota senator Kent Conrad said he recently met with the U.S. members of the joint commission to urge them to recommend retaining those import limits.
If the cap simply disappears, he said, American farmers could be faced with “a renewed flood of Canadian imports.”
Conrad said eliminating the Crow Benefit rail subsidy on grain will boost the cost of shipping grain east or west and make the market to the south more attractive for Canadian grain exporters.
Canadian officials blame the American Export Enhancement Program, calling it the main factor in drawing Canadian grain across the border, by shorting U.S. domestic grain supplies.
