Americans link subsidies to greater market access

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Published: March 14, 2002

HALIFAX, N.S. – An American farm leader says U.S. farmers only support

the country’s position in new world trade talks because they think it

is a way for them to gain greater access to foreign markets, including

Canadian supply managed sectors.

Bob Stallman, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, told

the annual meeting of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture March

1that U.S. farmers would be willing to consider lowering their domestic

supports if other countries give more access to American products.

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In a later interview, he said Canada’s dairy and poultry sectors

protected by supply management are a particular target.

“The supply management systems that exist around the world are only

maintained through high tariffs and restricting access for other

countries’ products. So it will be a tradeoff. A country cannot expect

to maintain its own policies and yet gain access to or diminishing

other countries’ policies.”

He said American farmers see “a very strong linkage” between tariff

reductions by other countries and U.S. domestic subsidy reductions. He

referred specifically to high Canadian butter tariffs.

“The only reason we are supporting the overall U.S. proposal is that it

does link increases in market access and decreases in tariffs to

decreases in domestic subsidies,” said Stallman. “We are not going to

unilaterally disarm. We’re not going to decrease our domestic supports

without seeing other movement, whether on reducing or eliminating

export subsidies or reducing tariffs.”

The president of the largest American farm lobby said U.S. negotiators

also plan to target the Canadian Wheat Board and other state trading

enterprises during talks.

And he said those who argue American farm subsidies are on the rise are

wrong. They have been declining and even with a new farm bill, will be

lower than in the past.

“We are abiding by our WTO (World Trade Organization) obligations,”

said Stallman.

CFA president Bob Friesen reacted angrily to the American trade agenda.

He said the Americans want to be able to leave their subsidy levels

high while eroding the right of other countries to protect their

markets from unfair cheap competition.

“They want to still be able to buy the market share they want,” Friesen

said in an interview. “I think this time both grains and oilseeds and

the supply management sectors have reason to be nervous about the

American agenda at trade talks.”

Earlier, Friesen had confronted Liberal MPs at the CFA convention with

his suspicion that the Liberal government may not understand high

tariffs are necessary to maintain supply management.

Bob Speller, Ontario MP and chair of the Liberal caucus task force on

agriculture, said the government remains committed to protecting supply

management.

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