WESTERN PRODUCER — Canada is sticking to its guns following the United Kingdom’s retreat from bilateral trade talks, refusing to provide extra access to Canada’s protected cheese market and insisting the U.K. stop discriminating against Canadian meat.
“The one thing we won’t do is be snookered or get intimidated into signing a bad deal. That’s not on,” Canada’s high commissioner to the U.K., Ralph Goodale, said in an interview the day after the Jan. 25 British announcement.
That is a relief for Canada’s cattle farmers and ranchers, whose main organization has been campaigning against any deal in which the U.K. refuses to recognize the equivalence of Canada’s food safety system, which essentially blocks Canadian beef from the U.K. market.
“We commend our government for standing up for us producers and following the science and research and not bending,” Nathan Phinney, president of the Canadian Cattle Association, said in an interview.
“It’s disappointing on their side that they’re walking away from it.”
The British government explained its retreat in a social media post, stating “we reserve the right to pause negotiations with any country if progress is not being made.”
That position drew support from the U.K.’s National Farmers Union, which has widespread support.
“The government’s decision to walk away from trade talks aimed at enhancing the trading relationship between the U.K. and Canada would have been difficult, but it’s the right decision,” said U.K. NFU President Minette Batters.
“On products such as beef and cheese, Canada was demanding too much and offering too little, therefore preventing progress to the benefit of both countries.”
However, U.K. cheesemakers warned of damage to their high-value industry as lucrative sales to Canada are lost.
The beef and cheese disputes are not technically linked, although many see them as connected in the give-and-take of trade talks.
The U.K. refuses to accept beef processed in Canada because of the British decision to adopt the European Union’s ban on beef from cattle that might have received hormones. Although EU rules don’t have to apply in the U.K. following Brexit, the country is sticking to that approach, which many in Canada’s meat industries and government see as nothing other than a non-tariff trade barrier.
“It is not an issue of health or safety or quality,” said Goodale.
“It is a desire on the part of the U.K. to restrict their market, to protect their market and they do it through a non-scientific, non-tariff protectionist trade barrier.”
While the British government has said much about wanting to sign trade deals with countries across the world to reduce its reliance upon the EU market, trade sensitivities are raw this year because of a looming British general election.
Some British cattle farmers were upset by a trade deal with Australia that they feel allows too much access to the U.K. market and they don’t want to see the same situation with other deals.
Unlike the vast expanses of open land that farmers have in Canada, the United States, Australia and other major beef producing regions, many U.K. cattle operations rely upon comparatively tiny tracts of land in areas clogged with urban development. Many fear that U.K. farmers can’t compete with agricultural goods from the market’s big players.
Phinney said he’s frustrated to see the U.K. block Canadian beef while U.K. beef is allowed into Canada.
“We’re supposed to have fair, reciprocal, open trade. We have a world class system that is recognized (around the world.) There’s no reason for this to continue,” said Phinney.
The cheese dispute arises from the expiration of a temporary deal that was made after Brexit.
Cheese imports from the U.K. had occurred under the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement and were allowed to continue after Brexit until the end of 2023.
The temporary quota has now expired and Canada’s market is no longer tariff-free. British negotiators have asked for that access to be reinstated, but Goodale said it’s not possible because the EU still holds all the access granted to it in CETA, which the U.K. left behind when it left the EU.
However, Canada still has unused quota the U.K. could access if it gets into the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, which it has applied to do.
Despite the breakdown in these talks, Canada’s trade with the U.K. outside of these sensitive agricultural products will continue “99 percent” unaffected, Goodale said, due to the other provisions of the Trade Continuity Agreement, which was signed after Brexit. While some manufactured goods with “complex supply chains” might also face difficulties now, almost everything else will flow freely.
“The amount that is in dispute is pretty small,” said Goodale.
The Canadian government’s decision to resist U.K. demands on cheese and to continue to insist on free access for Canadian beef allows Canada’s beef producers to chalk up a win for the “No to a bad deal” campaign it has been running for the past year.
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