OTTAWA – Canadian and American agriculture ministers meet this week to talk over some nagging cross-border problems.
It will be the first time Canadian minister Ralph Goodale will meet new U.S. agriculture secretary Dan Glickman, appointed this winter to replace Mike Espy, hounded from office by conflict-of-interest allegations.
Canadian trade officials said the May 3 meeting in Washington, which was held after presstime, will be more “get-to-know-you” than substantive.
Still, there are several Canadian positions that Goodale is expected to make clear to his American counterpart:
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- Canada will not agree to any extension of the existing cap on volumes of wheat that can be exported south.
Glickman has said unless there is a political agreement between the two countries on managing the grain trade, the 1.5 million tonne cap agreed to last year will be extended past Sept. 12.
- Canada will not negotiate lower tariffs that protect dairy, poultry and egg industries from cheaper U.S. imports.
The existing high tariffs were set up under world trade rules. The Americans say under North American trade rules, those tariffs should disappear by the end of the decade. They have called for negotiations on the issue.
Goodale will tell Glickman that Canada believes it is in the right and would rather have the issue decided by a trade panel than make concessions in negotiations.
It is expected he also will use the occasion to tell the U.S. government it should be lowering its farm subsidies, including export subsidies. The Canadian minister will be offering agricultural budget cuts here as an example for the Americans to follow.
At a Commons committee last week, Goodale said one of the reasons for ending the Crow Benefit subsidy was to keep Canada in compliance with world rules and therefore to be able to encourage the U.S. and Europe to follow suit.
