GHY Tradelines

(The Canadian Press)

The federal government is threatening “retaliatory measures” against the United States in a dispute over meat-labelling rules that Ottawa and the World Trade Organization consider discriminatory.

The U.S. government has announced new regulations on so-called country of origin labelling that would track beef and hogs through the meat processing and distribution systems.

Canada objects to the labelling system on the grounds that it is costly, burdensome and will lead to the “disintegration” of the North American supply chain.

“Canada is extremely disappointed with the regulatory changes put forward by the United States today,” Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz and Trade Minister Ed Fast said in a joint release Thursday. Read more here.

Related:

• U.S. Revises Meat-Labelling Rules to Satisfy WTO (Globe & Mail)

• FAITC News Release
 

(Bridges Weekly)

Agriculture committees in the US Senate and the House of Representatives cleared their respective versions of a potential 2013 Farm Bill last week, marking the first major advance in a process that had stalled last year. However, with the full Senate now in the midst of debating the legislation, some members of the chamber are raising questions on the impact of the new bill on trade and whether its provisions will indeed be WTO-compatible.

Although the proposals under discussion have ostensibly cut trade-distorting counter cyclical payments – transfers to farmers when prices fall – a host of new programmes appear poised to take their place. The Senate, for instance, has proposed two schemes in its version of the Farm Bill: Adverse Market Payments (AMP) and Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC). Representatives in the House, meanwhile, are assessing the merits of Price Loss Coverage (PLC) and the Revenue Loss Coverage (RLC). Read more here.
 

(World Bulletin)

The WTO ruled in late June last year that a U.S. program for labeling imported meat unfairly discriminated against Mexico and Canada.

The United States is not respecting a World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling on meat labeling, Mexico’s Agriculture Minister Enrique Martinez said on Tuesday, saying it was hurting local industry.

The WTO ruled in late June last year that a U.S. program for labeling imported meat unfairly discriminated against Mexico and Canada, putting pressure on the United States to bring the scheme in line with global country-of-origin meat-labeling rules.

“We can’t understand why once the very WTO … issues a ruling, the government of the United States does not respect it,” Martinez said.

“We have talked with beef producers in the United States and Canada, and totally agree this is an arbitrary decision and means discrimination against Mexican beef, which we will never agree with and as a government will defend against.” Read more here.
 

(Japan Times)

The 11 countries involved in the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade negotiations began their 17th round of talks in Lima on Wednesday with the focus on whether exceptions should be made to the general rule of tariff elimination.

Even though Japan gained the unanimous backing of the members last month to become the 12th member of the talks, it cannot take part until the U.S. completes the 90-day notice required by Congress to admit it. The earliest Japan can join is expected to be the July round in Malaysia.

With Japan seeking to protect its rice and other sensitive agricultural products by retaining tariffs through the TPP negotiations, decisions by the existing members at the 10-day meeting could affect Tokyo’s plans for the talks. Decisions already made by TPP members are not renegotiable as countries aim to conclude a deal by the end of the year. Read more here.
 

(Julian Beltrame – CP)

The Canada-European Union free trade talks are nearing an end with agriculture issues the last major stumbling block to an agreement both sides say will boost economic growth, the EU ambassador Matthias Brinkmann said Thursday.

In a free-wheeling discussion with Canadian reporters, Brinkmann suggested that most other issues in the four-year talks have been resolved or are close to being resolved, and that two specific sticking points — how much Canadian beef to Europe and how much European cheese to Canada — is keeping the sides from a deal.

“I think we have the landing zones identified for all sectors … but like in most negotiations it’s agriculture which is the most difficult one,” he said. Read more here.
 

(Dan Flynn – Food Safety News)

You, the consumer, are at the end of a long line of stops food makes before reaching your plate. Being able to trace this food back to its origins can be crucial to government and industry during a food-related recall or outbreak. But you may also want to know whether what you are about to consume is organic, whether it’s vegetarian, or maybe because of your beliefs you are looking for food that’s kosher or halal.

So while food companies might benefit from traceability and government may eventually demand it, food chain traceability is in large part about building relationships with consumers and giving them what they really want – the ability to trust that they know what they are eating.

Knowing what’s in your food and where it comes from sounds simple enough, but food chain traceability is a complex worldwide issue. It requires consistent standards and adequate technology in an ever changing world. Read more here.
 

(MM&D)

Canadian manufacturers fear even more fees may be looming at the Canada-U.S. border as the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recommends revenue-generating measures that could result in higher costs.

In a presentation to stakeholders in the U.S. capital this week, the department suggested new border fees because some federal agencies, including U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), are currently providing free services at America’s borders.

CBP works in collaboration with the USDA’s agriculture quarantine and inspection program, which provides checks of imported agricultural goods and commercial aircraft, rail cars, ships and even passenger baggage to prevent harmful pests, diseases and materials from entering the U.S.. “Approximately $191 million in CBP costs are associated with services for which no fee is currently charged,” the department’s presentation stated. U.S. federal agencies “need to recover all costs associated with fee services and have fee revenue from each fee service cover the associated costs.” In conclusion, it said: “Consider establishing new fees.” Read more here.
 

(Global Post)

Indonesia has eased restrictions on some agricultural imports after the United States complained to the World Trade Organization over Jakarta’s “opaque and complex” rules, the trade ministry said.

The U.S. first raised the issue with the trade body in January, citing Indonesia’s “broad use of import licensing measures that restrict imports” on a range of agricultural products. It criticized the licensing system, which came into force last year, as “opaque and complex”, saying it was inconsistent with Indonesia’s WTO obligations and was having an impact on U.S. exports to the country. Read more here.
 

(Chris Plecash – Hill Times)

Canadian farmers may have to wait at least two years before they begin to see any benefits – or challenges – from a trade deal with the European Union, says former federal international trade negotiator Peter Clark.

The European Union’s own protective policies on agricultural imports and the various agriculture interests of the 27-member bloc are only a few of the persistent obstacles to the completion of the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), said Mr. Clark, a former international trade negotiator now with Ottawa-based trade consulting firm Grey, Clark, Shih and Associates.

“It could take two years to approve this. They have to ratify it, some [members] will try to come back and get changes, then the European Parliament has to approve it,” Mr. Clark told The Hill Times. “If they get it done by mid-summer, it would take another two years.” Read more here.
 

(Joe DeCapua – Voice of America)

More than one trillion dollars’ worth of agricultural products is traded every year. But as countries buy and sell fruits, vegetables, timber and other products, they also may be putting domestic plants at risk. That’s why new standards have been issued under the International Plant Protection Treaty.

The global trade in agriculture means the food someone eats may have come from a country thousands of miles away. But as food is unloaded from ships and planes, some unwelcome visitors may find a new home. Many already have.

Take the stink bug, for example, in the United States. It’s believed to have arrived from China and finds American fruit crops delicious. Pests can also include fruit fly eggs or fungal spores. Some of the well known threats include wheat rust, African army worms, Cassava Bacterial Blight and the European Grapevine Moth.  The list goes on. Read more here.
 

(Lisa Guenther – GrainNews)

Talks aimed at easing or lifting trade barriers for southbound Canadian livestock were more productive Thursday in Mexico City than earlier this week in Washington, according to Canada’s Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz.

Both nations are currently up against the United States on Washington’s planned changes to its mandatory country-of-origin labelling (COOL) law – and if Canada has to resort to retaliatory tariffs, Ritz now warns they may affect other products apart from northbound U.S. beef and pork. […]

Earlier this week Ritz said annual trade retaliation against the U.S. over COOL could add up to $1 billion. Today he said he saw retaliatory measures going beyond U.S. beef and pork. “It’s hard to put retaliatory measures on your allies in this situation, and the American industry is very much on side with us, as I said. They’re facing as much or more hurt at the end of the day,” said Ritz. Read more here.
 

(Barrie McKenna – Globe & Mail)

Agriculture has long been the bane of Canadian trade negotiators. No trade deal gets done without crossing farmers first.

Suddenly, however, it’s Canada’s auto industry that has become the unlikely spoiler in the federal government’s ambitious free-trade plans.

The issue of autos is holding up a long-sought deal with South Korea. And it has plagued the tricky final negotiations towards a sweeping free-trade agreement with the European Union. Read more here.
 

(Spiegel Online)

The planned trans-Atlantic free trade agreement between Europe and the US must be senstive to agricultural concerns, says former World Bank President Robert Zoellick in a SPIEGEL interview. If successful, it could set a global economic precedent, he predicts. Read more here.
 

(Beef Central)

The United States is progressing its World Trade Organisation challenge against trade restrictions imposed by Indonesia on beef and a range of other agricultural imports.

The U.S. has asked the WTO to establish a dispute settlement panel to examine the restrictions applied by Indonesia to a range of horticultural products, animals, and animal products.
The development follows the failure of consultations between the U.S. and Indonesia in late February to reach a resolution.

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said Indonesia had created “a complex web” of import licensing requirements that, along with quotas, had the effect of unfairly restricting U.S. exports. “These measures appear to be designed to protect Indonesia’s domestic agriculture industry,” Mr Kirk said. Read more here.
 

(Don Curren – WSJ)

It’s long been a, well, sacred cow for Canadian policymakers. But amid a raft of trade talks—including negotiations now underway between Ottawa and Asian nations and, separately, the European Union—Canada’s dairy supply-management system is under scrutiny.

C.D. Howe Institute, a pro-markets think tank, said it’s time the system be reformed.

Provincial governments established the regime in the 1960s to balance the interests of small dairy producers and the handful of processors then in operation, and to smooth out the effects of volatility in milk prices. The provincial boards now operate under the umbrella of the federal Canadian Dairy Commission. Read more here.
 

(IndustryWeek – AFP)

Talks resuming after Taipei lifts 6-year-old ban on some U.S. beef imports

Taiwan and the United States will resume stalled trade talks next week after Taipei removed a 6-year-old ban on some U.S. beef imports, officials said Wednesday.

The U.S. delegation will be led by Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis at the two-day discussions beginning Monday, the American Institute in Taiwan, the de facto embassy, said in a statement. Read more here.
 

(Journal of Commerce)

Eleven national organizations representing dairy farmers and dairy industry workers have sent a letter to eight members of Congress urging them not to approve the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal without considering the impact on dairy farms and workers.

The letter states that the pending trade deal could have “tremendous impact” on where and how dairy products are produced and processed and urges Congress to adopt new trade policymaking procedures, rather than reinstating “fast-track” authority. Read more here.
 

(Barry Wilson – Wilson Producer)

New director general/DFC president says countries are choosing regional and bilateral deals

As a longtime British Columbia dairy farmer, Wally Smith knows a thing or two about downer cows.

As a longtime executive player in Dairy Farmers of Canada, the DFC president also knows a thing or two about stalled World Trade Organization negotiations.

Oddly, he finds similarity between the two.

“I compare the WTO talks to a downer cow,” Smith said in a speech and later interview during the DFC’s recent annual meeting in Ottawa.

“You feed it, you look after it, you try to rehabilitate it and it is a drag on all your energy and resources.” Read more here.
 

(AFP)

Call it a case of honey laundering.

US officials said Wednesday they had mounted a sting operation against two major firms illegally importing honey from China and selling it on the American market, avoiding $180 million in anti-dumping duties.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) described the bust as “one of the largest criminal anti-dumping cases in history.”

The offence involved Chinese honey either being mis-declared as another commodity or trans-shipped through other countries such as India, Russia and Thailand to avoid trade duties.

Five people have been arrested and charged and the two firms, Honey Holding of Texas and Groeb Farms of Michigan, agreed to pay fines of $1 million and $2 million respectively. Read more here.
 

(Thomas Walkom – Toronto Star)

Thanks to Barack Obama, Canada has even less room to bargain a favorable free trade deal with Europe.

For Canada, the most important element of Barack Obama’s Tuesday night State of the Union address was buried deep inside the U.S. president’s hour-long speech.

It was just one line and few in the audience paid it much heed. But Obama’s announcement that Washington is starting free trade talks with the European Union has put new pressure on Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Harper, it will be remembered, has been negotiating with the Europeans since 2009 for a Canada-EU free trade pact.

The prime minister is an ardent free-trader and the EU deal was supposed to be the crowning jewel in an array of trade treaties with countries ranging from Japan to Vietnam to Colombia.

But negotiations with the EU have gone on long past the original 2011 deadline. Press leaks from the secret talks indicate that the two sides are hung up on agriculture in particular. Read more here.