BANFF, Alta. – About $1 billion worth of trade happens every day between the United States and Canada.
Most is overlooked and many disputes are relatively minor.
But those disputes made farmers at a recent grain summit here agree there is room for improvement in the trading environment.
Farmers representing all the major commodity groups in the western United States and Canada hashed over sore points stemming from the transportation system, continental trade differences and global trade issues.
They produced 16 resolutions to present to the governments in Ottawa and Washington, said Clifton Foster, of the Alberta Barley Commission.
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They plan to examine their progress at a future meeting in the U.S.
The summit also gave farmers a glimpse at some of the issues on the agenda for the next round of negotiations for the World Trade Organization starting at the end of 1999.
The Americans served notice that the legitimacy of the Canadian Wheat Board is going on the table.
It is difficult for individual American farmers to sell grain when a state trading agency is in the picture, said Jerry Kriss, chair of the U.S. Wheat Associates, an export market development organization for the American wheat industry.
They believe the wheat board undercuts them in price and is able to boost prices in markets where the U.S. can’t participate, like Iraq.
“They feel small and resentful that they have to compete with such an entity,” he said.
Canadians were also warned about the resurrection of the Export Enhancement Program.
The Americans view the subsidy as a weapon but also realize that EEP for wheat would provide only a temporary increase in domestic prices and a modest increase in U.S. sales, said Norval Francis, counsellor for agriculture affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Canada.
“The Export Enhancement Program remains an important tool in our arsenal and we will use it if conditions warrant,” said Francis.
But now it would not be useful, he said, because it could raise domestic prices and make the U.S. more attractive to Canadian exporters.
When WTO negotiations start, the Americans will push for more tariff reductions, better market access and improved tariff rate quotas, and elimination of export subsidies.
They also want to separate farm program payments so government support doesn’t distort trade, eliminate rigid labeling requirements and promote legitimate use of sanitary measures when inspecting products.
Many of the summit resolutions fit those plans. They include:
- Working through the WTO all countries, but especially Canada and the United States, should establish clear rules to prohibit all export subsidies and lift export restrictions on agricultural products.
- Approval of bio-engineered products should be granted on the basis of science. Countries need to co-ordinate rules about genetically enhanced products.
- The two countries need to recognize each other’s standards and registration procedures for agricultural pesticides.
- The U.S. and Canada should ensure farm support programs do not distort production and trade. They will work to convince other countries to do the same.
- Form a producer-initiated U.S./Canada Grain Producer advisory committee to continue continental education and communication and provide a forum for trade issues before they become problems.
- State trading enterprises like the Canadian Wheat Board should have voluntary participation.
- Canada should deregulate and create a commercially driven and competitive rail transportation system for grain.
