Canada’s chief agriculture negotiator Gilles Gauthier told Canadian Cattlemen’s Association members last week that their sector would benefit if a Canada-European Union free trade deal is negotiated.
“I’m optimistic we will open the doors for Canadian beef exports,” he told a meeting of the CCA trade committee in Ottawa March 23.
CCA leaders had a simple reply: it better open some doors and more than just a crack if the government expects cattle industry support.
“This industry cannot support marginal gains in market access,” trade committee chair and now CCA president Travis Toews told him.
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Market access on paper often is diminished by non-tariff barriers or health protections that the CCA considers to be thinly disguised trade barriers.
Gauthier assured them the talks have been comprehensive and are looking at tariffs, non-tariff barriers and sanitary and phytosanitary issues.
He said with two rounds of negotiations completed and three more planned this year, the Canada-EU negotiations remain on a fast-track with both governments pledging to have a deal or end the talks by 2011.
Gauthier said by the end of this year, politicians on both sides will have to decide if negotiators have enough to form the basis for a deal.
“For agriculture, improving our access to the European Union is one of the key demands Canada has.”
One committee member raised the issue of Canada’s position that supports high tariff protections for the supply managed poultry, dairy and egg industries, while calling for greater access for Canadian exports of other commodities. Exporters have long argued that this diminishes Canada’s credibility in arguing for greater export access.
In the past, he said, beef access has been “sacrificed” to protect supply management. Will that happen again?
Gauthier insisted that was a false fear.
“That is not the way I am approaching negotiations,” he said.
The CCA considers the EU a major potential market. However, exporters do not appear optimistic.
Export predictions published by the Canada Beef Expert Federation say growth over the next decade will be mainly in Asia. The 10-year market projection does not include a separate prediction for sales to the EU.
