U.S. Is Rebuffed for Effort To Void Canadian Tariffs
March 29, 2011
OTTAWA -- An international trade panel, in an interim decision, rebuffed a U.S. bid to roll back steep Canadian tariffs on imports of poultry, eggs, milk and other dairy products. The ruling was a setback for potential U.S. exporters to Canada and for Canadian consumers, who pay as much as 50% more for milk and as much as 44% more for chicken than U.S. shoppers do. Canada's tariffs on poultry, eggs and dairy products range to as much as 335%, stifling price competition for Canadian producers. The high tariffs are designed to support price and production controls that are vigorously defended by poultry and dairy farmers. The import levies are a conspicuous exception to the general move by Canada toward freer trade, particularly with the U.S. and Mexico, its partners in the North American Free Trade Agreement. The U.S. argued that the steep agricultural tariffs were inconsistent with Canada's commitment, under Nafta, to phase out tariffs by September 12, 2012 Canada rejected the U.S. argument, claiming that such tariffs were allowed under the 2009 international trade agreement that established the World Trade Organization.
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