The United States and the European Union issued a news
release to announce they have begun preparations to enter into trade
negotiations.
The announcement comes as two years of negotiations between
Canada and the European Union are stalled on three issues, one of them being
Canada’s reluctance to yield its protection for supply management for the dairy
and poultry sector and European reluctance to yield as much access to its beef
and pork markets as Canadians desire.
Pharmaceutical patent protections and opening government purchases
and tendering to European competition are the other issues.
That impasse was on the agenda for talks this week in Ottawa
that involved Prime Minister Stephen Harper, but at the end of the day there
was no deal for them to announce.
The news release on the U.S. talks came from President
Barack Obama, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and European
Commission President José Manuel Barroso.
Both the Americans and Europeans expect their
economies to benefit from reduced trade barriers.
That is also what Canadians have been saying,
but it hasn’t weakened the resolve of Canada’s dairy and poultry farmers nor
Europe’s cattle and hog farmers.
John Ibbotson of the Globe and Mail says Harper
had better get a deal by April, else the Europeans will shift all of their
attention to negotiations with the U.S. and Canada will be left out in the
cold.
That, says Ibbotson, is what happened to Canada’s
negotiations with South Korea.
Frankly, I see little reason why Canada needs
tariff protection for the poultry industry. We have similar resources such as
feed, genetics, and support services as the U.S.; all we lack is competitive chicken
processors and it’s their own fault, especially Maple Leaf Foods, that they
haven’t built a fully-competitive double-shifted high-volume processing plant.
Dairy is a different matter. There we need our
trading partners to scale back their subsidies and trade barriers so we can
match with increased market access and reduced tariffs.
But if our weak-kneed politicians continue to
coddle the marketing boards, Canada might as well throw in the towel right now
on trade talks with Europe and the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
