Reuters / Pork producers in the United States, Australia and New Zealand urged their governments July 10 to push for an end to Canadian pork subsidies as Canada enters into talks on an Asia-Pacific free trade agreement.
“Canada needs to end its federal and provincial hog subsidy programs, which are distorting the North American and world pork markets,” R.C. Hunt, president of the National Pork Producers Council, said in a statement with industry leaders from the two South Pacific countries.
The action came as the 13th round of negotiations on the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) were wrapping up in San Diego and the White House formally informed Congress that Canada would be joining future talks on the pact.
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The U.S., Australian and New Zealand pork groups acknowledged domestic farm subsidy programs are not usually addressed by free trade pacts.
“However, in this case, Canadian agricultural subsidies are so wide ranging and have such a broad and far-reaching impact on overseas markets it is on these grounds we, along with the U.S. and New Zealand, urge the TPP negotiators and governments to deal with these issues fairly as part of the process,” Andrew Spencer, CEO of Australian Pork Limited, said.
