The American government is unlikely to open its border for more imports of Canadian sugar products until Canada loosens its protection of supply management sectors, a sugar industry spokesperson predicted last week.
While Canadian dairy, poultry and egg farmers celebrated this winter’s trade panel victory over American attempts to challenge supply management tariffs, sugar producers had reason to mourn, according to Sandra Marsden, president of the Toronto-based Canadian Sugar Institute.
“Our view is that the outcome of the NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) panel on supply management does not bode well for our industry,” she said. “The Americans clearly will link their lack of access here with our request for more access there.”
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Keep up pressure
At a meeting between government and sugar industry officials last week, there was agreement that Canada should continue to press the United States for more access for sugar-containing products.
When the U.S. introduced protective tariffs under the terms of World Trade Organization rules in 1995, it actually reduced Canadian access by 130,000 tonnes.
The sugar institute estimates that is costing Canadian manufacturers and sugar beet producers $120 million a year and is responsible for the closure last month of a sugar beet processor in Winnipeg.
“CSI’s objective is to seek a restoration of the U.S. market access for refined sugar and sugar-containing products to that which prevailed before the U.S. introduced new restrictions under the NAFTA and the WTO,” Marsden told the Feb. 11 meeting called by federal agriculture minister Ralph Goodale.
“However, recognizing the outcome of the NAFTA panel on supply management, there appears to be no obvious near-term solution to this problem.”
Goodale continues to insist he will not accept the connection as he argues the U.S. should accept more Canadian sugar-containing products.
“There is no linkage,” he said in an interview after the meeting.
While the Americans complain about restricted access to poultry and dairy markets because of tariffs, their access is greater now than it was before the WTO deal and that access will continue to grow as tariffs fall, he said.
“In the case of supply management, their access is more, not less,” he said. “In the case of sugar, our access is not even close to what it was before. It is close to 50 percent less. If they want to engage in that kind of an argument, truth and justice is on our side. And I won’t draw any linkages.”
