Canadian dairy, egg and poultry farmers have gone on heightened alert following proposals from a senior World Trade Organization official that would see tariffs charged on above-quota product coming into Canada cut by at least 22 percent.
Crawford Falconer, chair of the WTO’s agriculture negotiations, sparked a firestorm last week when he issued the proposals, which also limit the number of so-called sensitive products that would be eligible for protection.
Leaders of Canada’s dairy, poultry and egg sectors demanded that the federal government reject the plan, which would mean products now protected by tariffs of up to 300 percent would see that fall to less than 240 percent, a level the industry says would allow access for cheaper imports.
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“These modalities are detrimental to supply management,” said Dairy Farmers of Canada president Jacques Laforge.
But other Canadian farm sectors found more to praise in Falconer’s attempts to get the WTO talks going again.
“I think there is a basis here for negotiation,” said Keith Lancastle, executive director of the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance, a pro-trade liberalization farmer and agri-business lobby.
“It doesn’t go as far as we’d like but we do see this as a step forward.”
Canadian agriculture negotiator Steve Verheul said in a July 19 interview from Geneva that while the sensitive product proposals are a setback for Canadian interests, many parts of the proposal are an advance from positions at the Hong Kong WTO ministerial meeting in 2005.
“He (Falconer) is proposing deeper domestic support cuts and market access and some of the proposals on green box would let us include more of our programs like crop insurance.”
Verheul said it will be up to governments to decide if there is political will to continue with a deal.
In his proposed text, Falconer confirmed earlier agreements that export subsidies would be phased out by 2013 and government financial support for state trading enterprises would be phased out. He left open the question of whether export state trading monopolies should be allowed.
He proposed deep cuts in production distorting domestic subsidies that would limit the ability of major subsidizers like the United States to increase support.
And he insisted that protectionist WTO members including the European Union offer sharper cuts in protective tariffs and other barriers that reduce market access.
Falconer said he knew everyone would not welcome his proposals but he was trying to point to areas where compromise is possible in the interests of a deal.
The New Zealand ambassador to the WTO said it is a last chance opportunity for the 150-member organization to complete negotiations started in 2001 in Doha, Qatar. He asked countries to reflect on his proposed way ahead and then prepare for serious bargaining in September.
The U.S. condemned the proposed domestic support cuts as too dramatic and the EU said market access proposals went too far.
Verheul said initial country reactions will be gauged when agriculture negotiations resume for one day July 24.
Representatives of CAFTA and the supply managed sector will be in Geneva this week to lobby for their conflicting interests.
The Canadian Federation of Agriculture, usually front and centre in any WTO Geneva lobby, is not attending the meeting, but CFA president Bob Friesen issued a statement complaining that the Falconer text falls short.
“The end result for Canada would still be our farmers, both export and domestic producers, giving up much more than they get,” Friesen said.
