Agriculture meeting emphasizes Canadian, U.S. partnership

Friday, January 15, 2016

by JIM ALGIE

Thursday’s first face-to-face meeting between Canadian Agriculture minister Lawrence MacAulay and U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack would have been very different, no doubt, if Congress had not recently repealed its Country of Origin Labelling (COOL) law for Canadian beef and pork.

As it was, the newly-appointed Canadian minister was able to leave the meeting full of praise for “Canada’s strong, bilateral partnership with the United States.” During a conference call with reporters following Washington talks with Vilsack, who has been U.S. agriculture secretary throughout the administration of President Barack Obama, MacAulay spoke repeatedly and emphatically about the importance of Canada/U.S. trade. He valued cross-border trade at about $50 billion annually in agriculture and food alone.

“Our government was very pleased with the U.S. decision to repeal COOL for beef and pork,” MacAulay told reporters during brief remarks before taking questions. “The resolution removes significant, long-standing disputes between our two countries,” he said.

That refers to a seven-year-long dispute among Canada, Mexico and the United States over American law that required country of origin labels on meat from imported livestock. Through multiple U.S. appeals, World Trade Organization officials ruled repeatedly in favour of Canada and Mexico that the labelling requirements discriminated against imports contrary to U.S. international treaty commitments.

The former Canadian government of Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper had threatened retaliatory tariffs worth as much as $3 billion annually in the absence of U.S. repeal which came only last month. Removing the labelling requirement “will allow industry on both sides to reap the benefits of our integrated markets,” MacAulay said.

Talks with Vilsack also included details of the recently negotiated, Trans-Pacific Partnership which removes certain existing trade barriers and requires ratification by national legislatures in each of the 12 participating nations. MacAulay said he and Vilsack discussed the pact’s pros and cons.

Vilsack indicated his administration’s support for TPP but MacAulay provided little sign of his government preferences beyond a general remark that it has “strongly supported free trade as a way to open markets and create good paying jobs for Canadians.”

Asked about a timetable for ratification, MacAulay said neither he nor Vilsack were willing to predict the outcome of pending legislative decisions.

“You’re likely aware that President Obama called for it in his state of the union address,” MacAulay said, referring to the president’s final address to Congress, Tuesday. “It’s difficult for me to speculate,” MacAulay said of the deal’s future either in Congress or the House of Commons.

“There’s going to be discussion and debate on the floor of the House of Commons before anything takes place,” MacAulay said.

Other subjects of discussion between Vilsack and MacAulay included potential areas of cooperation on matters of agriculture science and technology. As well, the two men discussed the need for science-based, international standards for bio-technology, MacAulay said.

“Prime Minister Trudeau and President Obama have set the tone for relations between our two countries,” the agriculture minister said. “Through our government’s new focus on the relationship Canadian farmers and food processors can look forward to opportunities to come,” MacAulay said. BF