It would seem that when it comes to trade-related issues between countries, there is little empathy, only vested national interests. So it showed when President Trump threatened crippling tariffs on Canada. The silence was deafening from our so-called friends and allies in the European Union(EU) and the G7 group. Even the British Prime Minister, on a visit to the Trump Palace, seemed to throw Canada under the bus. Not a word of sympathy either for his beleaguered Canadian subjects from Charles the 3rd, the reigning King Of Canada.
Those might be wise political positions, as the EU and the UK probably don’t want to raise the ire of a reactionary Trump if they showed any support for a country he was targeting for tariff retribution. But then again, for the EU, it won’t matter as it now seems that trading block will soon be Trump’s next target. In some ways, the EU could use some Trump-imposed corrective actions, particularly regarding several of their unfair anti-free market trading practices. The ones Canadian agriculture is most familiar with are the EU’s obsession with using non-tariff trade barriers to keep out unwanted competition for large sectors of their production agriculture industry. Even free-trade agreements don’t matter in these situations as the Canada/EU treaty has shown.
It is an old story, but the EU has spent decades deviously creating trade barriers based on bogus, non-scientific, politically inspired green ideology. That would be their fear and opposition to GMOs, steroids and hormones. That negatively affects Canadian beef, corn, and oilseed exports to the EU. The EU has fought and lost WTO unfair trade challenges but to no avail as they are cunningly skilled at inventing ever new ways to block competing imports. Because of the boy scout nature of our trade policy, Canada will not robustly deal with this outrageous EU trade obstructionism. But then, as a medium player in world trade, we don’t carry a very big stick.
But luckily for Canada, the EU applied the same non-tariff barriers against the USA, and if Trump carries through with his tariff threats against the EU, they are about to get a rude awakening. Trump has indicated that his reciprocal tariffs against the EU will also include action against bogus non-tariff barriers against products like US beef, grains, and oilseeds. That would be a great leap forward in finally breaking down that sham barrier. If that were to happen, it would presumably have to apply to Canadian exports of those commodities to the EU.
Unfortunately, the UK has joined their former comrades in the EU in maintaining that they have a right to protect their citizens from consuming deadly food products from Canada and the US that contain the much-feared GMOs and growth supplements. Neither has been able to scientifically prove that those are a health risk. Otherwise, they would have had to publically warn or forbid their citizens from eating almost any food product whilst visiting Canada or the USA. Incidentally, most cruise ships worldwide serve American beef, even those visiting EU seaports. There are few reports of British and EU cruise participants refusing a US ribeye steak to save their lives. The exasperating part of the UK ban on Canadian beef is that Canada happily allows unlimited access to the Canadian market for British beef, which has increased 300% over the past few years. One wonders why anyone would want to eat British beef instead of Alberta beef, but I guess if it’s cheap enough, some consumers will lower their quality and taste standards.
Canada needs to retaliate (but won’t) and suspend all UK beef imports, pending whether their processing facilities and sanitation procedures meet our health standards. We could make them pay for the inspections and take our time doing it. God knows Canadian bureaucrats are world-famous for mind-numbing, time-consuming health and environmental assessments – it could take years. However, to make the Canadian government bend to their will the UK has suspended free trade agreement discussions. Canada will eventually surrender to the demand to get a deal.
But, as noted earlier, if President Trump forces the EU and the UK to end their notorious non-tariff barriers against beef, corn and oilseeds, it would change the attitude of those nefarious EU and UK trade officials who for decades have gleefully had us at their mercy with their bogus claims about our high-quality beef. Trump will prove it was all about keeping out the competition.
Will Verboven is an ag opinion writer and policy advisor.
