Senators Urge USTR to Dismantle Canada Poultry Trade Barriers in NAFTA Talks
A bipartisan group of 10 senators urged U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer in a June 14 letter (here) to work to eliminate Canadian trade barriers against U.S. poultry and ensure poultry trade with Mexico “remains robust” through NAFTA renegotiations. Canada has continued to impose tariffs of 249 percent on U.S. poultry that exceeds a quota OK’d by a NAFTA dispute settlement panel shortly after NAFTA entered into force, the senators wrote. U.S. poultry exports to the nation have remained low because of this trade barrier. In 2016, the U.S. exported nearly five times as much poultry to Mexico as it did to Canada, the letter says.
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“Contrary to the promises of NAFTA, Canada has continued to impose stringent, protectionist trade policies that limit sales for American poultry exporters,” the senators wrote. “As a result, the Administration’s commitment to improving the terms of NAFTA presents American poultry exporters with a unique opportunity to eliminate Canadian trade barriers, which have hampered growth for more than 20 years. We strongly urge you to focus on this issue during talks with Canadian trade representatives, and we expect that progress will be made.” The senators are also urging USTR to protect the largest foreign market for U.S. poultry exports, Mexico, which in 2016 saw nearly $1 billion in imports of U.S. poultry.
Also this week, Texas Republican Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz said in a Dallas Morning News commentary (here) that the U.S. should push for common sanitary and phytosanitary standards and "science-based measures," as agricultural product standards and classifications have varied between the three countries since NAFTA's enactment, creating non-tariff barriers. "When we renegotiate, we should insist on science-based measures to eliminate artificial barriers and align the current hodgepodge of classifications among American, Mexican and Canadian agricultural products," Cornyn and Cruz wrote. "That will benefit farmers, ranchers and consumers alike."