September 26, 2012

The US must correct the errors it made in the North American Free Trade Agreement by asserting in new trade talks with Canada on free access to this country's poultry and dairy market.

This is according to US agricultural groups on Monday (Sep 24).

"All we are asking is that we have an open and free fair trade shot at the border," Bill Roenigk, senior vice president at the National Chicken Council, said at a hearing conducted by the US Trade Representative's office on the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) pact.

Canada's Conservative government, sensitive to sentiment in voterich Eastern Canada, has long said it will maintain supply-management measures for dairy, poultry and egg farmers. These measures largely entail matching production to domestic demand and levying high tariffs to discourage imports.