Canada “essentially depresses the entire value” of U.S.-grown wheat that farmers want to sell north of the border, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in criticizing the grading system now in use. U.S. wheat is automatically rated as lower-quality feed-grade wheat when it arrives at Canadian grain elevators.
During a teleconference from Ho Chi Minh City, Vilsack said he raised the issue with his Canadian counterpart during a meeting of agriculture ministers from the Group of Seven industrialized nations. Action on the issue was interrupted by Canada’s general election last fall. Vilsack said he raised the issue with the new Canadian agriculture minister, Lawrence MacAulay, as a reminder of U.S. interest in resolving the issue, which has rankled U.S. growers.
Vilsack said he told the Japanese agriculture minister, also at the G-7 meeting, that he was confident that Congress will approve the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade agreement this year. The chief U.S. agricultural trade negotiator, Darci Vetter, said in a separate meeting with North American Agricultural Journalists that the most likely time for congressional action would be in the post-election session when campaign rhetoric has cooled. “I think that’s a fair assessment,” she said. “Broad bipartisan support still exists for trade.”
Farm groups generally support TPP as a lever for knocking down trade barriers and tariffs to U.S. ag exports in the 11 other TPP countries. Japan, with the largest economy in the bloc aside from the United States, is considered the big prize for farm exporters. TPP nations account for 40 percent of the world economy. Farm groups are pressing for a TPP vote this year because President Obama is sure to sign an implementation bill but the leading candidates for president have been critical of the pact.
Like Vilsack, Vetter said Canada was treating U.S. wheat unfairly. “This is an issue we’ve been looking at,” she said. While Canadian authorities say U.S. growers get a fair price if they sell under a contract that sets quality standards, Vetter said when farmers sell wheat on the cash market “it’s not getting the treatment it should.”
Canada and the United States are each other’s largest agricultural trading partner and rank among the largest wheat exporters in the world. Cross-border trade in wheat is relatively small.
Mark Feierstein, senior director for Western Hemisphere affairs at the National Security Council, told NAAJ that there was “an increasing constituency” among U.S. business groups and the general public for ending the decades-old U.S. trade embargo with Cuba. U.S. farm groups see Cuba as a natural customer for farm exports but sales are a relatively small part of Cuban imports, totaling $170 million during 2015 out of food imports of more than $2 billion. By law, Cuba is required to pay cash on delivery for food shipments. Farm groups say removal of the embargo would allow credit to be offered.
“The president is pretty vocal,” Feierstein said about ending the embargo when asked if Congress would vote on repeal this year.