Western Producer staff
It may have been a sign of wishful American thinking on the morning of the latest Canada-U.S. agricultural trade talks. A Chicago newspaper reported that Canadian agriculture minister Ralph “Goodie” was in town to do negotiating battle with U.S. agriculture secretary Mike Espy.
Goodale and trade minister Roy MacLaren didn’t live up to the billing. Yet again, the Canadians insisted that the American demands for agricultural trade peace were too high.
They say they want a deal rather than a trade war and hoped the Chicago meeting would produce agreement to continue negotiations and removal of the American threat of punitive tariffs on shipments above one million or so tonnes of Canadian imports.
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Instead, they merely avoided a complete breakdown in talks and left the Windy City with the threat of American retaliation still hanging in the air.
Reactions of the two sides after the marathon negotiations followed a typical pattern.
The Canadians were calm, resolute. Goodale still has solid industry and government backing for his tough, cautious approach to the talks.
MacLaren looks like a man who cannot for the life of him figure out why something as insignificant as the grain trade, worth a few hundred million each year, should be jeopardizing goodwill in a trading relationship worth more than $200 billion annually. But he will go along with the government position, under little real pressure to do otherwise.
The Americans struck a tougher note as they stood talking to reporters under the watchful gaze of lobbyists from the American sugar industry.
The sugar lobbyists have shown up at every Canada-U.S. negotiation in Europe and North America, a constant reminder of the power of American lobbyists to cause trouble for the administration in Congress.
Both American players – trade ambassador Mickey Kantor and agriculture secretary Mike Espy – are facing their own pressures in these talks.
Kantor has had a string of not-so-successful trade stand-offs with Europe, Japan and Canada, and his performance is under question in Congress. He is looking for a clear win to bolster his government’s image and his own.
Canadians had better strike a deal or risk retaliation, Kantor told reporters. It was a “talk is fine and cheap but now is time for action” kind of speech, aimed at sounding tough.
Espy, on the other hand, is a politician under siege these days.
His conduct and relationship to Tyson Foods is under investigation by a congressional committee. His standing within the administration has been questioned and the U.S. farm lobby has made it clear they think he gave up too much in world trade talks and he’d better redeem himself by being tough with Canada.
So there he was, telling reporters he would not “acquiesce and agree on things not in the U.S. farmers’ interests.”
For the two key American politicians involved, there’s a lot more at stake here than wheat and barley.
It’s called reputation.
