United States agriculture secretary Mike Johanns made it clear last week in his first meeting with Canada’s new agriculture minister that the U.S. remains committed to using world trade talks to end the Canadian Wheat Board monopoly.
He also told Chuck Strahl in Washington April 20 that while his goal is to have the border open this year for cattle and products from cattle older than 30 months, every new Canadian BSE case delays the process. The border may not open this year.
“Overall, it was a good discussion,” Strahl said. “Of course, there were unfinished issues and we will work on those.”
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Recently, the U.S. government indicated that it continues to see World Trade Organization negotiations as a way to end the CWB monopoly.
The new Conservative government agrees with the end of the monopoly, but Strahl said he told Johanns that he disagrees with the American tactic.
“He did raise that issue and the American position,” said Strahl. “We have made it clear that changes are coming, but we also believe that those changes must be decided domestically and that is a debate for us. I made the point that we disagree with this as a WTO issue. We realize their position on STEs (state trading enterprises). We believe it has to be dealt with domestically. I told him we have to debate this among ourselves and end up with a solution made in Canada.”
Johanns told a news conference in Washington after his meeting with Strahl that he wants a rule this year that would allow older Canadian cattle and products to cross the border.
However, he said that every new case of BSE in Canada slows down the process. There have been two BSE cases confirmed in Canada this year and he has to be certain that any new rule will pass the American political system, including challenges from the protectionist cattle group R-CALF.
“We try to be very, very cautious about it and what I said to the minister is I want to be sure it’s done right, first and foremost,” said Johanns. “I want to make sure that the risk analysis is done right and then I want to make sure it will withstand not only our internal rigorous challenge but the challenge that sometimes can come from court cases.”
Strahl said the American agriculture secretary also indicated that the U.S. is committed to an ambitious WTO agreement that would force the U.S. to sharply reduce domestic farm supports.
Last week, the White House unexpectedly shuffled trade representative Rob Portman out of his job and many trade analysts saw it as a signal that the Americans have given up on the current WTO round and any prospect of success this summer.
Strahl said the message he received in Washington was that Portman’s replacement was not a signal or an assumption that the talks will fail.
“I heard that they want these talks to succeed and the secretary said that a successful result would mean the present farm bill is unsustainable,” Strahl said. “With that, he was sending all the right signals.”
