Federal agriculture minister Bob Speller is denouncing the latest United States challenge to Canadian hog imports, vowing to fight it to the end.
“I think that this is harassment,” he said in a March 11 interview after appearing before the Senate agriculture committee. “There is absolutely no evidence that suggests in any way that the government of Canada is doing anything outside of what we’re allowed to do under WTO rules. I believe we can win.”
Speller suggested American subsidies are the ones that cannot bear scrutiny.
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Manitoba Conservative MP Rick Borotsik agreed that the American challenge should be fought at the highest levels of government.
“It is inconceivable that the industry should have to face this and the prime minister should intervene and get this fixed before it takes effect and devastates another industry,” he said in an interview.
But Borotsik, who represents one of Canada’s main hog-producing provinces, said the answer is not to challenge American subsidies or to threaten retaliation.
“We can’t afford a trade war because we need that market to continue with our industry,” he said. “To do any kind of a trade war now would be devastating. They have to follow the rules of trade, but let’s be realistic.”
On March 5, the American National Pork Producers’ Council announced it had filed a petition calling for a domestic investigation into live hog imports from Canada, demanding countervail and anti-dumping duties that could start this summer.
The U.S. lobby said an increase in Canadian hog imports to 7.3 million in 2003 caused a crash in U.S. prices.
“Subsidized and dumped Canadian hogs are destroying competitive and efficient U.S. producers,” NPPC trade counsel Nick Giordano said in a statement. “If these unfair Canadian practices are left unchecked and U.S. hog producers are forced to continue to compete with Canadian producers that do not have to meet the test of profit, U.S. producers will continue to lose sales, income and market share.”
In Ottawa, Speller was not talking about trade retaliation but a strong defence.
“We have asked for consultations, the first step in the process, and we will sit down with the Americans to try to figure out exactly where they believe that they have a case,” he told the Senate committee.
“I think that hogs in this country have been traded very fairly. I believe we have programs in place that are well within the rules of the WTO. I believe we will be successful in defending this. These situations are unfortunate. This should not be the way it is, particularly with such an open trade border that we have known, but they do happen periodically.
“I will give you my assurance that I will work with our industry to make sure that they are able to put forward very strongly their case on this.”
