The United States Congress last week overwhelmingly approved a new five-year farm bill, mustering enough congressional support to overturn any presidential attempt at a veto.
Canadian agriculture minister Gerry Ritz immediately condemned it as a violation of the North American Free Trade Agreement and contrary to subsidy-cutting proposals that the U.S. is supporting at World Trade Organization talks in Geneva.
He promised to launch a NAFTA appeal if country-of-origin labelling (COOL) provisions in the bill take effect and hurt Canadian exports.
Ritz said it undermines efforts to get a WTO deal this summer.
Read Also
Canada the sole G7 nation without a Domestic Sugar Policy to aid local sugar beet production
Canadian sugar beet industry vastly different to US with free-market system compared to protective government-regulated sugar program
“I’m very concerned when at the same time we’re struggling to get WTO agreements, we’re seeing the U.S. Congress pass their farm bill which flies in the face of everything we’re trying to do over there,” Ritz told the House of Commons agriculture committee May 15. “They’re saying one thing and doing another.”
From Washington, Reuters News Agency reported that while much of the spending in the $289 billion farm bill is aimed at food, nutrition and food stamp programs, farm subsidies remain and are higher than numbers on the negotiating table in Geneva.
It reported that president George Bush promised to veto the bill on grounds it subsidizes multimillionaire farmers while Americans face higher food prices.
However, senators and members of the House of Representatives said they have the numbers to overturn a presidential veto, which requires a two-thirds vote. The margin of victory in the Senate and House was much higher.
The bill also would provide billions of dollars of subsidy for the biofuel industry.
Ritz said as a result of the congressional vote, Canada can no longer count on a Bush veto to kill the COOL program.
