World Trade Organization negotiators are far from sealing a deal, but if they ever do it will not be good for Canada’s chicken industry, says the country’s chief agricultural trade negotiator.
Steve Verheul told the Chicken Farmers of Canada’s annual meeting on March 20 that Canada has chosen not to be at the table where reductions in sensitive product protections are being discussed.
The result is that other countries that accept the need for protection reductions are writing the rules that will be presented to Canada in the event of a deal. The federal government already has said it will not walk away from a WTO deal.
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Verheul, who had the same message for dairy industry leaders earlier in the month, said the framework that other countries are discussing would include lower overquota tariffs, higher imports through tariff rate quota expansion and the likelihood that not all of Canada’s supply managed products could be protected under sensitive product designation.
Canada argues it needs eight percent of its tariff lines set aside for sensitive product designation to protect all supply managed products. Verheul said a consensus seems to be emerging among other countries that no more than four or five percent of a country’s tariff lines should be designated for sensitive products with higher protection levels.
It means that if a deal emerges, the Canadian government in consultation with the industry would have to decide which products are afforded sensitive product tariff protection and which products are left off the list and opened to import competition.
“We don’t want to get into a situation where we would pick and choose.”
Verheul later said it would be a wrenching and acrimonious political debate.
“That would be an extremely difficult scenario, as you can imagine, and we’re hoping we don’t get there,” he said in an interview after his speech to CFC.
“If the negotiations went in that direction, then there’s probably some things we could do to get our number down a little bit, but obviously if we were squeezed at all on that, we’d have to have a lot of conversations with the domestic industry.”
He said the only way Canada could reduce the damage of overquota tariff reductions or limits on the number of products that can be protected would be to increase the portion of the Canadian market for protected products that is open to foreign product.
“I have not painted a very pretty picture here this afternoon,” said Verheul. “I think it is important you know where things are heading.”
Chicken industry leaders said the message reinforced their view that Canada should not sign a WTO deal that undermines supply management protections.
