In the streets of Geneva outside the headquarters of the World Trade Organization, a coalition of North American and European farm groups last week issued a statement denouncing the effects of trade liberalization.
In the streets of downtown Ottawa, as in cities around the world, street theatre organized by WTO skeptics featured men in suits playing soccer with a ball shaped like a world globe.
And from his farm in Ontario, Canadian Federation of Agriculture president Jack Wilkinson worried that farmers might not be able to trust the federal government to protect their interests in the next round of WTO negotiations.
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Meanwhile inside WTO head offices, trade ministers like Canada’s Sergio Marchi toasted the success of 50 years of trade liberalization in fostering economic growth.
These were snapshots of reactions last week as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade turned half a century old.
“The GATT and WTO provide an invaluable network of rules in key areas such as trade in goods, services, agriculture, intellectual property, government procurement and telecommunications and financial services,” said Marchi.
“The prosperity that this has brought to our people underpins our economic development and makes a substantial contribution to global peace and security.”
Outside, farm groups including Canada’s National Farmers Union, told a different story.
They read a declaration which accused the trade negotiators of making rules for corporations while ignoring the needs of farmers who are expected to produce more cheaply in order to foster trade.
NFU president Nettie Wiebe issued a statement complaining that Canadian food exports have doubled since 1989 while net farm income has fallen 41 percent.
“Despite our highly-industrialized food production and our exporting success, farm families here are losers in the current trade arrangements.”
In Ottawa, a group called Peoples’ Global Action used the soccer-playing “suits” to represent capitalists “using the world and the fate of millions of people around the world as their soccer ball.”
CFA president Wilkinson was not that negative but in an interview, he said farmers are increasingly nervous the government will enter trade talks without a strong commitment to protecting Canadian farmers and their policies, whether environmental program spending, supply management or the Canadian Wheat Board.
Agriculture minister Lyle Vanclief has told the farm community it should help the government by formulating a trade policy that bridges the divisions between import-sensitive sectors and exporters.
The government plans a series of meetings with farmers next year to work out an opening position for the WTO talks.
But Wilkinson said farmers are skeptical.
They have met with trade minister Marchi. “We were surprised at how little interest he showed in agriculture.”
And they are not certain it is worth the effort to try to convince government of anything.
“I think there is a massive fatigue in the farm community and I think politicians and bureaucrats are playing on that, trying to get away with as much as they can,” he said. “As farm leaders, we are having a hard time firing up our farmers to fight back.They are very cynical.”
For his part, Marchi said the Canadian government has learned it has to be more open and transparent with Canadians about trade goals and strategies.
