U.S. free trade agreements hurting Canadian farmers, says coalition

U.S. free trade agreements hurting Canadian farmers, says coalition    A coalition of Canadian agriculture groups have complained that bilateral trade agreements between the United States and some of “Canada’s traditional customers” are weakening the competitiveness of Canada’s farmers.
   In a letter sent to David Emerson, Canada’s new Trade Minister, the coalition wrote: “Currently, our closest competitors (mostly the United States) are aggressively negotiating free trade agreements, giving them preferential market access over Canada. As a result, Canada’s competitiveness in these markets is being eroded and a substantial portion of Canadian agricultural exports will be negatively impacted.”
   The letter was signed by representatives from the Canadian Wheat Board, the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, Canada Pork International, the Canada Pork Council, the Canadian Grain and Oilseed Exporters Association, the Canola Council of Canada, the Canadian Oilseed Processors Association, Cavendish Farms and Pulse Canada.
   “We just cannot afford to have our customers picked off one at a time,” said Adrian Measner, president and chief executive of the Canadian Wheat Board. “Export markets for our wheat and barley represent C$3 billion ($2.6 billion) to C$4.5 billion ($3.9 billion) each year for Canadian farmers and the national economy.
   “We don’t dispute that the World Trade Organization negotiations are extremely important but, as we’ve been stressing to the federal government for a couple of years now, our competitors are doing an end run into Canada’s traditional markets.”
   The CWB highlighted three recent free trade agreements concluded by the United States with Morocco, Peru and Columbia, that it said will particularly damage Canadian farmers.
   “The agreement gives American producers preferential access to the Moroccan markets, which will hit Canadian durum producers hard. Canada typically sells 400,000 tons of durum a year into Morocco. The U.S. has also recently concluded free trade agreements with Peru and Columbia, putting Canadian wheat and barley exports at a significant tariff disadvantage. In the case of wheat and barley, Canada faces a 15-17 percent tariff,” the CWB said.
   The coalition’s letter urged Canada to initiate expedited bilateral trade negotiations with the following priority countries: China, Japan, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, India and Morocco.
   “If Canada continues to put all its eggs in the WTO basket, there’s no doubt Canadian producers will be left out in the cold. A WTO agreement will not fix the competitive disadvantage created by competitors’ bilateral trade agreements,” Measner said.