Canada and South Korea are discussing a deal that would allow Canadian beef back into that key Asian market without waiting for the outcome of a World Trade Organization judgment.
Canada has launched a WTO case against Korea’s continued ban on import of Canadian beef since the 2003 BSE outbreak. Korea has refused to accept international recognition of Canada as a minimal BSE risk.
However, the WTO dispute resolution system could take years.
Last week, agriculture minister Gerry Ritz told the House of Commons agriculture committee that Korea may be willing to cut a deal before the WTO makes a judgment.
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“It looks like there’s a glimmer of hope that we may not have to go all the way through with a panel,” he told MPs Nov. 18. “We’re hopeful that the hammer of the panel plus the good work done by the (Agriculture Canada) market access secretariat will get that work done in the near future.”
Ritz said later Canada is determined to get a good beef access deal with Korea if it is to drop its WTO challenge.
“The Koreans are hopeful of that and so are we,” he told reporters after the Parliament Hill meeting. “They have to be serious about what they are offering us. It has to be commercially viable. We’re not about to take a pig-in-a-poke, literally, in this case beef.”
Meanwhile, senior Agriculture Canada officials told MPs that a quick resolution of Canada’s WTO challenge against the United States’ country-of-origin labelling rules is not as likely.
Greg Meredith, assistant deputy minister in charge of the strategic policy branch of Agriculture Canada, told Saskatoon Conservative MP Kelly Block that the next and last meeting of the WTO dispute resolution panel is in December and a panel decision is expected next summer.
If the U.S. loses and decides to appeal, the final resolution may not come until 2012 and if the U.S. refuses to accept the judgment if it loses, it will be up to Canada and Mexico to decide on appropriate retaliation.
Trading with South Korea
•South Korea credits its rapid economic growth since the 1970s to its growing exports.
•South Korea has trade agreements with the United States, European Union, India, Chile, Singapore, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and the European Free Trade Association of four western European countries.
•It is in free trade talks with Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Peru, Colombia, Turkey and the Gulf Co-operation Council.
•South Korea hopes to start free trade talks soon with China, Japan, Mercosur South American free trade group, Russia, Israel and the South African Customs Union.
Source: Republic of Korea
