Canadian Government Shocked by European Union's Refund of Pork Exports
The export subsidy rates run as high as CDN 75 cents per kilogram and are understood to be applicable for all export destinations.
Government subsidies that directly lower export prices are widely regarded to be the most trade-distorting form of government assistance to agriculture. Doing away with export subsidies has been a core objective of the Doha Round of WTO trade negotiations and a bone of contention between the United States, the E.U., and Canada in those negotiations.
The CPC is already talking with government officials on the legality of this E.U. decision. In the meantime, the ministry will explore what other options to try to persuade the Europeans to pursue a path which is less damaging to the interests of its international allies.
"We are astounded that the E.U. has chosen a method of addressing its pork industry's economic difficulties that will impose even more extreme hardship...We fully understand the E.U.'s move is to address the economic crisis being faced by their pork producers in response to high feed prices and the weak [Dollar]. But these are the exact same challenges being faced by pork farmers in Canada and in many other countries. These European subsidies will force Canadian, U.S., Brazilian, and other pork exporters to cut prices to remain competitive," says Clare Schlegel, President of the CPC.
Agricultural subsidies are, however, sacred in the United States and Western Europe, and while many critics have long called for and still call for their end, the farmers who receive the subsidies have become entrenched in their positions of "needing" the subsidies and their lobbying arm is very heavy. Critics contend that politicians perpetuate the subsidies just because they want farmers' votes.
E.U. and American farm subsidies, however, carry the unintended consequences of making the price of farm products in poor nations uncompetitive and thus serving as trade barriers, which only serves to keep those poor nations poor.
Studies have demonstrated that most farm subsidies go to large, wealthy farms, not the small farmer that the politicians rave about protecting. Studies have also shown that by circumventing the competitive marketplace, subsidized farmers distort the national economy by stimulating overproduction so that food goes to waste, overusing marginal farmland, inspiring excessive borrowing on the part of farmers, and inflating the price of farmland.
Original Newswire Source:
http://marketwire.com/mw/release.do?id=798328
Published by Brant McLaughlin
I am a Writer driven by endless curiosity and a deep desire to waste time creatively. View profile
- The European Union Sends Warning to GoogleGoogle has been warned via a letter from a European Union advisory body that its practices "fall short" of those for privacy maintained by the EU.
- Domestic Violence Against Women and Children in the European UnionDomestic Violence Against Women and Children in the European Union
- The History and Statistics of the European UnionThis article discusses the European Union and debate over a Constitution and other difficulties.
- The European Union: A Rising American RivalA comparative analysis of the economic and political differences between the United States and the European Union
- Turkey's Future in the European UnionAs the European Union continues to expand in size and ideology, the issue of whether or not Turkey should be granted member-state status remains a contested topic.
- Overview of the Governing Bodies of the European Union
- Eurobarometer: Measuring Outside Knowledge of the European Union
- Overview of the European Union
- Dollar Diplomacy: U.S. Views of the European Union
- New Anti-Terror Software Being Developed by the European Union
- Bulgaria and Romania Will Join the European Union (EU) in 2007
- Development and Future of the European Union