Case in point: March 17, 2:16 pm Eastern Time U.S. claims WTO victory in Canada dairy dispute
(My comment: the US is not only on this issue, they are AHEAD of it; notice the final sentence in this story.)
WASHINGTON, March 17 (Reuters) - The World Trade Organization has upheld a U.S. challenge to Canada's dairy program, finding that Ottawa's system to provide low-cost milk to processors for export sales constitutes an export subsidy, U.S. trade negotiators said on Wednesday.
''This decision reinforces the disciplines on agricultural export subsidies which bind all WTO members,'' U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky said in a statement.
The ruling by a WTO panel should help the U.S. dairy industry by reining in unfairly-subsidized competition from Canadian exporters, Barshefsky said.
The panel upheld U.S. arguments that Canada was giving its industry export subsidies disguised as part of a system of providing low-cost milk to processors for exports. Canada adopted the system in 1995, saying it was no longer subject to any limitations on its dairy exports.
Under the agreement that set up the WTO, members must limit the amount of products exported with subsidies. But Washington contended that Ottawa's subsidized dairy exports were double the level Canada had agreed to in the pact.
The new ruling is also important for the round of world agricultural trade talks due to begin in November, Barshefsky said. The panel's decision ensures that the existing rules for farm trade will not be undercut, she said.
(My earlier comment)
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