Within seven weeks, Canadian farmers should know whether a World Trade Organization deal with new rules for agricultural trade will be signed soon, say senior officials involved in or following the negotiations.
Negotiators have been working in Geneva, Switzerland, since the beginning of September and agriculture talks chair Crawford Falconer will soon issue new proposals on what a deal should look like.
Chief Canadian agriculture negotiator Steve Verheul said once that report is out and governments have had a chance to assess it, difficult decisions will have to be made by mid-December on whether there is enough common ground to strike a deal.
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“I would say that will happen through the first part of December, before the (WTO) general council meeting Dec. 20-21,” Verheul said. “We have made progress since the beginning of September but if there is to be a deal, some key decisions would have to be made on compromises.”
Key will be whether the United States agrees to deeper domestic subsidy cuts and the European Union reduces access barriers more deeply than it has proposed.
If a deal emerged, Canada would have to decide whether it could accept reductions in protection for supply-managed sectors. Verheul said Canada remains isolated at Geneva as the only country refusing to accept reductions in over-quota tariffs and increases in guaranteed minimum access into sensitive product areas like dairy and poultry.
