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Designated beef and pork imports from Europe carry a 100 percent tariff as of Aug. 1, effectively keeping these products out of Canada.
International trade minister Sergio Marchi and agriculture minister Lyle Vanclief said this action is a response to the European Union’s failure to accept rulings made by the World Trade Organization on allowing in Canadian beef produced using growth hormones.
The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association welcomes the retaliatory measures. The group was consulted by government on the final list of products.
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The product list includes beef, pork and cucumbers, totaling $11 million. The Canadians hoped for $75 million worth of retaliation but the WTO panel set its damage level lower.
“It’s as good as you can get,” said Neil Jahnke, chair of the CCA’s foreign trade committee.
“Maybe the next go-round, we’ll have to be tougher,” he said.
Compensation to cattle producers for lost sales opportunities was considered, but at $11 million, Europe would not feel the hurt and it would not be enough to benefit producers here, said Jahnke.
“All we want is access to the European market. Maybe this is a way to get their attention,” he said.
Canada will stand its ground until Europe relents and allows North American beef and offals onto the continent.
“We have to stand up for what is right. The WTO has ruled in our favor numerous times in the last few years,” said Jahnke.
Compliance with the obligations would mean either that the EU restores market access to Canadian beef, or that Canada and the EU reach a mutually satisfactory solution that includes appropriate compensation to Canada.
EU subsidies irksome
The retaliation will stop the EU from exporting its subsidized beef to Canada, an issue that has concerned the Canadian beef industry for some time.
The issue of European export subsidies on beef will appear at the next round of world trade talks. Production and export subsidies built a surplus of frozen beef that remains in storage. Canada and the United States fear that meat might be dumped into the Asian market at a devalued price.
Canada’s final retaliation list is as follows:
- Meat of bovine animals, fresh, frozen or chilled.
- Meat of swine, fresh or chilled, carcasses and half-carcasses, hams, shoulders and cuts with bone in.
- Meat of swine, frozen, other cuts like frozen spareribs and frozen boneless cuts. A tariff rate quota was created in the amount of 2, 970 tonnes. Products imported in excess of that volume will be subject to a 100 percent tariff.
- Cucumbers and gherkins, fresh or chilled.
- Livers of any animal prepared or preserved.
- Shoulders and cuts of swine prepared or preserved.
- Swine meat and meat offal, excluding livers, including mixtures, prepared or preserved.
- Bovine meat and meat offal excluding livers, prepared or preserved.
Goods that are in transit to Canada on or before Aug. 1, 1999 are excluded from this measure.
