Canada has joined 16 other medium-sized food traders at World Trade
Organization talks to demand a speedy end to export subsidies.
Last week in Geneva, the Cairns Group proposed elimination of export
subsidies within three years in developed countries and six years in
developing countries.
It also called for tighter rules to make sure food aid and concessional
export credit arrangements are not used as hidden export subsidies.
Cairns members said there should be a 50 percent cut in export
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subsidies in the first year of a new WTO agreement as a “down payment”.
“For years, Canada has been a leader in calling for the elimination of
agricultural export subsidies,” trade minister Pierre Pettigrew said
Nov. 26. “The proposal we are presenting to the WTO is one step further
in this process and will serve to create a fair and efficient trading
system.”
Canadian agriculture trade advocates praised the government decision to
endorse the Cairns demand. Earlier, Canada had refused to support
Cairns proposals for radical cuts in domestic supports and tariff
protections.
The Canadian position is that the Cairns Group, led by Australia, is
proposing trade positions that would deny Canada the right to maintain
such farm programs as crop insurance and Net Income Stabilization
Account and would make supply management impossible to maintain.
Ted Menzies, president of the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance, said
Canada is correct to sign onto demands for an end to export subsidies
but wrong to resist Cairns calls for sharp cuts in domestic subsidies
and border controls.
“While Canada has not worked as well with the Cairns group on market
access and domestic support as it has on export subsidies, we hope that
will change,” he said in a Nov. 27 statement. “If Canada is to capture
the opportunities presented by a more open trading environment, it is
critical that it work closely with groups like Cairns to do it.”
