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Corn battle with United States heats up
“Starting consultations” sounds like an innocent enough term, but when it is used in conjunction with the World Trade Organization, “‘consultations” is diplomatic code for starting a trade fight.Early in the New Year, Ottawa spoke that word to Washington launching a hearing before an international trade panel.
The rest of the world quickly smelled blood and piled on. Within days of Canada’s invocation, several dozen European countries said “me too.”
Why is Canada going after the United States now? Ottawa trade lawyer Peter Clark speculates that the new government on Parliament Hill realizes that, unless the Americans stop subsidizing agriculture, Ottawa will be forced to match U.S. subsidies. Another reason is that it’s becoming harder and harder to ignore what the Americans are doing.
A third reason is the current trade talks. If the Americans have to change their trade practices, they will want the other side to make concessions, Clark says. “If they lose this panel, they have to change their measures” unilaterally.
This case is “totally different” than last year when Canadian Corn Producers sought redress for losses they felt they suffered because of American subsidies. “WTO obligations are totally different than anti-dumping and countervail,” says Clark, who worked on the side of beef and pork producers who opposed the countervailing duties because it would make them uncompetitive with their American competitors.
Corn producers aren’t so sure and sense a different feeling in Ottawa. Last April, the Canadian International Trade Tribunal ruled that U.S. subsidies were not causing material damage to Canadian corn growers and rescinded the duties that Canadian Border Services had put in place.
Canadian Corn Producers, an alliance of grower groups in Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec, has filed an application in the Federal Court of Appeal to reinstate high anti-dumping and countervailing duties. A court date could be as early as this spring. BF
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