Canadian Wheat Board minister Ralph Goodale says rather than obsessing over how to restrict Can- adian wheat shipments south, the United States should be acknowledging the advantage it has in the cross-border grain trade.
During a recent lobby visit to Washington, D.C., Goodale talked to political and industry allies to try to give them ammunition that can be used to convince the U.S. administration to end the CWB investigations and to lift anti-dumping duties now facing grain going south.
“There is no subsidization, there is no dumping, there is no unfair trade practice,” he told reporters after the visit. “We are very anxious to see the final adjudication of these issues this summer or early part of the fall, concluding that in fact there is no injury caused to the U.S. by Canada and therefore any duties that are in place at the present time ought to be terminated and refunded.”
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Goodale told his American audiences that while two million tonnes of wheat are sold south, much more flows north.
“This comes as a surprise on the American side,” he said. “We point out that something more than four million tonnes of corn moves in the other direction, as does some barley, as does some wheat.”
And while the average American consumes $40 worth of Canadian food products each year, the average Canadian consumes $175 worth of American product. “Last year, Canada surpassed Japan to become the number one agricultural market for the U.S.”
Goodale said he also reminded the Americans that U.S. subsidies are “at least twice as high” as Canadian subsidies and there have been allegations that they lead to dumping of American product into Canada.
So why doesn’t Canada challenge U.S. grain moving north?
The minister said, in effect, because the American market is so much more important for Canadian exporters than the Canadian market is for American exporters, Canada cannot afford to get into a trade war of legal challenges.
“In terms of the order of magnitude, that game is easier for the Americans to play because they have all the upside,” he said. “We potentially also have some downside.”
He said Canada and the U.S. would be better off co-operating to fight European subsidies and trade practices than in fighting each other.
