World trade negotiations likely won’t progress until after the 2004 American election, says Canada’s chief agricultural negotiator.
Steve Verheul said American officials will not want to discuss cutting domestic agricultural support during a campaign.
“They don’t want to talk about the kinds of things they would have to do internally to get an agreement,” Verheul told reporters at a recent Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan conference.
“But after an election, I think they can feel more free to talk about the gains they could get out of a negotiation, recognizing that they would have to do some changes at home.”
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He said the U.S. must return to the World Trade Organization negotiating table.
“I think it has little choice,” he said. “They need the WTO to help them help themselves. They realize the farm bill is not going to help them over the long term.”
That legislation has made U.S. farmers less competitive because of its large subsidies.
At the same time, Verheul said many U.S. members of Congress are becoming suspicious of the WTO for several reasons: they consider it a threat because a number of decisions have gone against them; they associate trade agreements with the loss of American jobs and they think they should be able to make decisions within their own borders.
“The problem with that is if decisions within the U.S. are affecting other countries and causing damage in other countries, we should be able to go to the WTO and tell them that ‘you can’t operate your approach that kind of way.’ “
Peter Clark told the APAS meeting that the U.S. must be challenged at the WTO. The president of Grey, Clark, Shih and Associates, an international trade consultancy in Ottawa, said the U.S. has exceeded its WTO commitments in domestic and export support and continues to hurt western Canadian farmers.
“Are you going to wait for the negotiations?” Clark said in speaking of the need for a challenge.
“There’s no other way it’s going to happen. The issue here is challenges. This is the only way to secure your rights. Canada has been challenged, and unless we in turn challenge U.S. subsidies, we are dreaming in Technicolor that negotiations will achieve what we want.”
Verheul said negotiating countries will continue their work, but none of the “difficult decisions” are likely to be made until after the November presidential election.
“I don’t know necessarily that the Bush administration is all that protectionist,” added Clark. “There are alternatives that could be worse.”
