American requests for changes to Canada’s supply management system for dairy and poultry are a “non-starter,” said Canada’s agriculture minister on Monday. U.S. negotiators introduced an initial dairy proposal on Friday, which calls for increased transparency and changes to Canada’s milk class system, including the elimination of the new class 7 that has taken away… Read more »
Category: Trade
U.S. tables dairy proposal in NAFTA talks
The U.S. introduced its much-anticipated proposal regarding dairy during NAFTA negotiations on Friday, although it did not contain an explicit request for a percentage increase in market access into Canada. The American proposal was focused on changing Canada’s milk class system and increasing transparency in supply management. The proposal would reverse recent changes to Canada’s… Read more »
Four scenarios if Trump tries to pull out of NAFTA
The tone surrounding the negotiations to update NAFTA has taken a gloomy turn, especially for agriculture, with a growing consensus that there’s a real chance President Trump will try to follow through on his repeated threats to pull the U.S. out of NAFTA. Even Prime Minister Trudeau, after meeting with Trump on Wednesday, sounded like someone… Read more »
U.S. expected to come out swinging in round four of NAFTA talks
The first three rounds of the three city touring NAFTA talks have seen many handshakes, a few trials balloons and agreement on predictable texts. Round four will begin back in DC mid-week and is expected to have some more drama and rocky moments as predicted by Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland at the outset… Read more »
Pulse Canada still waiting on word from India
The Canadian pulse industry is still waiting to hear from India’s government on how it will handle Canadian pulses shipped after September 30, 2017. The latest in a series of exemptions related to India’s fumigation requirement expired at the end of September. “We’re sitting here on the 4th of October and we haven’t heard from… Read more »
Ottawa launches consultations on TPP deal with remaining members
After months of very little public activity on the Trans-Pacific Partnership file, the Canadian government says it wants to know what Canadians think about a potential agreement with the remaining TPP members. Global Affairs Canada, in a notice published in the Sept. 30th Canada Gazette, calls for views on a TPP deal with the other… Read more »
Questions linger about U.S. commitment to completing new NAFTA deal
Negotiators are trying to ignore the politics and noise surrounding their attempt to update the North American Free Trade Agreement, but the big decisions will ultimately be made in the political realm. And that means what happens on the ground in the negotiating room has to be within the range of what political leaders, including… Read more »
Progress made on agriculture text in 3rd round of NAFTA talks
Negotiators have made some progress on agriculture-related topics during the third round of NAFTA negotiations in Ottawa this week. A full day of discussions on agriculture took place on Tuesday, with more planned for Wednesday. The U.S. introduced a “consolidated text” for agriculture, compiled from the three countries’ individual submissions, according to a source who… Read more »
No mention of dairy yet in NAFTA talks
Dairy and supply management have yet to be formally discussed in the renegotiation of NAFTA, with the third round of talks set to wrap up on Wednesday. Canada’s chief negotiator, Steve Verheul, indicated over the weekend that he did not expect the U.S. to table any dairy text in Ottawa. That was still the case… Read more »
More questions than answers heading into NAFTA round three
As the NAFTA negotiations enter the third round of talks in Ottawa, the agriculture community in all three countries is nervous. We have heard “do no harm” so many times from famers and ranchers in all three countries that you’d think it should have penetrated into the minds of the negotiating teams. The White House… Read more »
Celebrating CETA while obstacles remain
The provisional application of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the European Union (EU) officially started this week, which had the Canadian trade team in Brussels actually jumping for joy. But the work is far from over, as technical barriers are holding the agriculture and agri-food industry back from reaching their full… Read more »
Uncertainty in Canadian pulse industry, as latest fumigation exemption nears end
The latest three-month exemption to India’s rules requiring fumigation of pulse crops is nearing its expiration date, and Canadians are no nearer to an understanding of what, exactly, that might mean. “As of today, we don’t know what India’s policy is going to be for bills of lading that are dated October 1 or later,… Read more »
Both MacAulay and Perdue need to step up for agriculture
Sonny Perdue and Lawrence MacAulay have their obvious differences. One is American and the other is Canadian. One has right wing politics and the other leans a little more to the left. One likes ice cream and the other…oh wait, they do have some things in common. Besides ice cream, they both like to talk… Read more »
Fight for left-leaning seats could cost Canada ‘single best trade opportunity’
The federal Liberals’ reluctance to show that they want to move forward on the Trans-Pacific Partnership could be due to competition for votes in certain Ontario, Quebec and B.C. ridings in 2019, according to a trade expert with the Canada West Foundation. It’s difficult to get an answer on why Canada has not been more… Read more »
AgriTalk panel debates Trump’s poker skills, rising NAFTA tensions and what happens next
As round two of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) negotiations wrap up, many followers remain unsurprised by the three countries’ inability to see eye-to-eye. The last two weeks have been filled with threats of termination, promises to close the deal by year-end and a complete lack of agreement (except on the location of… Read more »