OTTAWA – Prime minister Jean ChrŽtien Monday promised farm leaders his government will not be a push-over in the face of an increasingly aggressive American trade stance.
After a late afternoon, private meeting Feb. 20, farm leaders emerged to say the prime minister promised to stand up for their interests in a meeting late this week with American president Bill Clinton.
In particular, he vowed to resist American pressure to go beyond the requirements of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade in opening Canadian borders to U.S. dairy, poultry and egg products.
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“The prime minister told us ‘a deal with the U.S. is a deal’,” said Canadian Federation of Agriculture president Jack Wilkinson. “We will live up to it and we expect them to as well.”
Government officials said last week it is unlikely agriculture will play much of a role in discussions when Clinton visits Ottawa Feb. 23-24.
Going on record
However, ChrŽtien, flanked by agriculture minister Ralph Goodale and the chairs of the House and Senate agriculture committees, said he would put Canada’s position on the record with Clinton.
The visit comes at a time when trade relations between the two countries are, in Goodale’s phrase last week, “a bit frayed.”
The Americans want Canada to lower, and quickly eliminate, high border tariffs that protect Canada’s supply managed sectors from U.S. competition.
At the same time, they are threatening to reduce access to the U.S. market for sugar and sugar-containing products from Canada. A binational panel continues to study grain trade irritants.
Meanwhile, newly entrenched Republican leaders in Congress are urging Clinton to take a hard line with Canada.
“Until Canada commits to totally free trade on all agricultural items within the NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) boundaries by a certain date, the administration should continue to take actions against unfair Canadian practices under dispute settlement,” the Republic chairs of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives agriculture committees said in a letter to Clinton Jan. 24.
Last weekend, during a visit to Toronto to meet Goodale, Indiana’s Richard Lugar, chair of the Senate committee, said the U.S. would be willing to allow free trade in wheat between the two countries if Canada agreed to get rid of the Canadian Wheat Board.
