WTO says Canada discriminates vs. US wheat-US aide
2003-12-22 22:08:21 GMT (Reuters)
WASHINGTON, Dec 22 (Reuters) - A World Trade Organization panel has ruled that Canada unfairly discriminates against imports of U.S. wheat, as the Bush administration contends, a U.S. trade official said on Monday.
In response to queries from Reuters, the official, in a prepared statement, said the confidential WTO ruling "found that indeed Canada unfairly discriminates against American wheat and grains."
The WTO ruling also found that the Canadian Wheat Board and other state-run trading enterprises in the world "limit fair and open trade," said the U.S. official, who requested anonymity.
A Canadian government official on Monday said the WTO panel had found that the Canadian Wheat Board operated legally.
UNQUOTE
This fight will be lost in Ottawa, the same place that the WGTA was lost. Either the Feds step and start negotiating or there won't be any tradeoffs. For 10 years we have had a chance for a made in Canada solution and now the times up.
And in the end, the Feds will take the WTO position: "we had to do it", just like the CROW/WGTA.
The sooner everyone realizes that it is all politics the better off everyone will be.
The Americans arent *issed that we are selling grain to the US. They are *issed that we sell 1/3 of our grain underneath the world price. The world price that they set by way of not one but three wheat contracts.
Give the CWB credit that they extract a premium on 1/3 of the wheat they sell - but there are not enough customers to extract that premium on an entire crop.
The CWB is taking market share from the US with better quality wheat and lower prices. If you think for a minute that we are buying market share at prices above the world price, you are sadly mistaken.
1/3 is sold above, 1/3 is sold at, 1/3 is sold below. Plain and simple.
Price transparency is the key. We had our chance to reform the CWB - we did not and now someone else is going to do it for us.
Kinda like passing on 13 billion; then 7 billion and settling for 1 billion for the Crow payout.
2003-12-22 22:08:21 GMT (Reuters)
WASHINGTON, Dec 22 (Reuters) - A World Trade Organization panel has ruled that Canada unfairly discriminates against imports of U.S. wheat, as the Bush administration contends, a U.S. trade official said on Monday.
In response to queries from Reuters, the official, in a prepared statement, said the confidential WTO ruling "found that indeed Canada unfairly discriminates against American wheat and grains."
The WTO ruling also found that the Canadian Wheat Board and other state-run trading enterprises in the world "limit fair and open trade," said the U.S. official, who requested anonymity.
A Canadian government official on Monday said the WTO panel had found that the Canadian Wheat Board operated legally.
UNQUOTE
This fight will be lost in Ottawa, the same place that the WGTA was lost. Either the Feds step and start negotiating or there won't be any tradeoffs. For 10 years we have had a chance for a made in Canada solution and now the times up.
And in the end, the Feds will take the WTO position: "we had to do it", just like the CROW/WGTA.
The sooner everyone realizes that it is all politics the better off everyone will be.
The Americans arent *issed that we are selling grain to the US. They are *issed that we sell 1/3 of our grain underneath the world price. The world price that they set by way of not one but three wheat contracts.
Give the CWB credit that they extract a premium on 1/3 of the wheat they sell - but there are not enough customers to extract that premium on an entire crop.
The CWB is taking market share from the US with better quality wheat and lower prices. If you think for a minute that we are buying market share at prices above the world price, you are sadly mistaken.
1/3 is sold above, 1/3 is sold at, 1/3 is sold below. Plain and simple.
Price transparency is the key. We had our chance to reform the CWB - we did not and now someone else is going to do it for us.
Kinda like passing on 13 billion; then 7 billion and settling for 1 billion for the Crow payout.
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