Your reading list

Protect NAFTA benefits: producers

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Published: April 12, 2018

OTTAWA — The Canadian beef industry wants to remind negotiators to do no harm when revising the North American Free Trade Agreement.

“We want to make sure everyone understands that as far as the Canadian, American and Mexican beef industries are concerned, NAFTA has been very good for us. The top priority is to keep what we have and not fall back,” said John Masswohl of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association.

The eighth round of negotiations is expected to start soon and so far, there has been a different tone to the conversation, he said at the CCA annual meeting in Ottawa March 21-23.

Read Also

Last used Sept 15, 2022 The American pea harvest is estimated to be 747,210 tonnes this year, a far cry from the 387,780 tonnes produced during last year’s drought. SKL Last used Oct 14, 2021. An Israeli company hopes its new high-protein yellow pea variety can be registered next year and Ripe yellow peas on the plant ready to be harvested.

Trump’s tariffs take their toll on U.S. producers

U.S. farmers say Trump’s tariffs have been devastating for growers in that country.

The United States has claimed there is a trade deficit between the two countries but that is not the case for agriculture products.

“Whether you have a trade deficit or a trade surplus is not the fundamental objective of a trade agreement. It is how you both benefit,” said Masswohl at the CCA foreign trade committee.

“Usually trade negotiations work by trying to find mutual benefits for both sides. So this has been very different from that perspective,” he said.

Agriculture trade is balanced but the question of surpluses and deficits is a matter of how numbers are analyzed.

There is $1 billion a week in two-way trade, said an official from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The balance of trade in agriculture is probably affected more by the exchange rate than anything else, she said.

The top exports from the U.S. to Canada were meat, fresh and processed fruits and vegetables, snack foods, soft drinks and prepared foods.

However, there is general agreement that modernization on regulatory issues and movement at the border is needed.

For example, a long-running complaint from Canadian meat exporters is the dispute over re-inspection.

Canadian meat going to the U.S. may be inspected a second time at American border facilities but this does not happen with American meat entering Canada, said Dennis Laycraft, executive vice-president of the CCA.

About the author

Barbara Duckworth

Barbara Duckworth

Barbara Duckworth has covered many livestock shows and conferences across the continent since 1988. Duckworth had graduated from Lethbridge College’s journalism program in 1974, later earning a degree in communications from the University of Calgary. Duckworth won many awards from the Canadian Farm Writers Association, American Agricultural Editors Association, the North American Agricultural Journalists and the International Agriculture Journalists Association.

explore

Stories from our other publications