[CTC] U.S., UK want financial services as part of trade pact

[Arthur Stamoulis]

(Go to the web page for the links to USTR, Public Citizen, etc.)

http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/council-canadians/2013/04/us-trade-barrier-hit-list-shows-
whats-stake-canada-trans-pa

U.S. trade barrier hit list shows what's at stake for Canada in Trans-Pacific Partnership

By Stuart Trew | April 15, 2013 

The United States Trade Representative (USTR) has released its annual
list of global trade barriers -- policies in countries from Angola to
Vietnam it wants changed or eliminated so U.S. firms can make more
money. You can read the whole report here. Or you can take a look at
Public Citizen's very useful summary, which focuses on the 10 non-U.S.
countries, including Canada, negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership
agreement, right here.

According to the government and corporate watchdog, "The 406-page USTR
report indicts a wide array of public health policies, financial
regulations, politically sensitive manufacturing and agricultural
policies and even religious standards as 'trade barriers' that should
be dismantled." The section on Canada begins at page 63. But Public
Citizen has conveniently pulled out most of the Canadian examples as
follows (this is all their work, I just add a few hyperlinks for
further reading):

- The report conveys concerns of the U.S. pharmaceutical industry,
mentioning the Notice of Intent filed last year by U.S. pharmaceutical
corporation Eli Lilly, in which the company announced plans to use
NAFTA's investor privileges to directly challenge Canada's entire
patent policy. This investor-state attack was launched in response to
Canadian courts' invalidation of a patent on an Eli Lilly medicine for
which the firm had not met Canada's patentability standards. USTR also
notes another recent patent invalidation -- for Pfizer's Viagra -- that
has yet to produce a NAFTA investor-state case. USTR's inclusion of
these cases could be intended to provide political backing for the U.S.
corporate challenges to Canadian patent law, which have generated wide-
spread consternation among public health officials.

- The report takes issue with Canada's policy that major foreign
investments and acquisitions must be reviewed to ensure that they offer
a "net benefit" to the country. This standard, according to USTR, is
"overly broad." (Note: the European Union, Germany in particular,
objects to European investment into Canada being screened this way and
is pushing to eliminate the review process in the Canada-EU free trade
negotiations.)

- USTR laments that Canadian provincial policies to control alcohol
distribution "greatly hamper exports of U.S. wine and spirits to
Canada." The report particularly blames "province-run liquor control
boards," which enact policies closely resembling those used by U.S.
state-level counterparts, such as the Pennsylvania Liquor Control
Board.

- After describing a Canadian project to consolidate a wide array of
federal government data, the report criticizes a stipulation that
companies involved in the consolidation will not be permitted to move
the government data outside of Canada. USTR implies that the Canadian
government should not have qualms with the offshoring of a wide range
of government data because doing so aligns with "today's information-
based economy."

- The report blasts Canada's popular supply management program for
sensitive dairy and poultry products. While the program provides
support and stability to Canadian farmers, USTR explains that it
"severely limits the ability of U.S. producers to increase exports to
Canada
"
 
- USTR singles out one item as an illustrative example of U.S. "dairy
products" that have been particularly impaired by Canada's import
barriers: "breaded cheese sticks."

- The report disparages Canada's "compositional standards for cheese,"
which USTR blames for blocking U.S. "dairy" products from being sold in
Canada. The primary standard that USTR cites as concerning is Canada's
establishment of "a minimum for raw milk in the cheese making process."

But wait, there's more

Now if you really don't want to read the USTR report (why wouldn't
you?), here are some of the remaining Canadian trade barriers it
mentions. Like the above, these are certainly going to come up in the
TPP, which for Canada is essentially a NAFTA renegotiation on mostly
U.S. terms.

- The Canadian Wheat Board is in here despite the U.S. government
winning that one with the passage of Harper's Marketing Freedom for
Grain Growers Act in 2011, which abolished the single marketing desk.
The USTR also mentions that Canada (Harper) eliminated a quality
control measure called Kernel Visual Distinguishability (KVD) -- a
simple way to sort different types of wheat by their end-use based on
visual qualities which had the unintended effect of limiting U.S. grain
exports because they are not visually distinct. As Scott Sinclair of
the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives wrote in his 2009 report
Threatened Harvest:

The [Canadian Grain Commission] had announced changes to address the
concern without unduly threatening Canada's exports of the highest-
value bread and pasta wheats. Ignoring warnings from industry
observers, government officials and legislators, the Harper government
rejected the Commission initiative to modify the K V D system. Instead,
it adopted the approach favoured by U.S. wheat growers and the U.S.
government by terminating Canada's K V D system outright.

"While this policy change is an improvement," says this year's USTR
report, "it will take years before U.S. wheat varieties are able to
complete the necessary field trials to determine whether they will be
registered for use in Canada." But as USTR notes, "Legislation to amend
the Canada Grains Act is currently under consideration in the Canadian
Parliament."

- The U.S. wants Canadians who enter the U.S. for less than 24 hours to
be able to bring back $200 worth of goods on their return, just as U.S.
residents can when they enter Canada for that long. Harper recently
increased the limits from $50 to $200 for travel of more than 24 hours,
and from $400 to $800 for travel of more than a week.

- The U.S. objects to Canada's aerospace support programs, for example
which support sales of Bombardier's CSeries aircraft in the United
States.

- Financial support programs for Canada's pork producers are in here.

- The Ontario Green Energy Act is too, because of local content
requirements on wind and solar projects. As the USTR notes, the United
States participated as a third party in the WTO dispute brought by the
EU and Japan against these "buy local" conditions, which was successful
late last year. The case is still at the appeal stage. Labour and
environmental groups are preparing to defend the Green Energy Act
should the WTO's Appellate Body uphold the earlier panel ruling that
declared the local content rules illegal.

- The Canada-U.S. Government Procurement Agreement apparently didn't go
far enough, says USTR, despite Canada being the one who granted much
more access to its procurement market than the U.S. government did.

- Foreign ownership limits on telecommunications companies and Canadian
content rules in broadcasting are both cited as barriers to U.S.
exports, so expect them to come up in the TPP negotiations (as they did
in the CETA negotiations).

The next round of TPP negotiations will take place in Lima, Peru in
mid-May. Canadian, U.S. and Mexican groups part of the TPPxBorder
campaign against the TPP have called for a week of action starting May
11. You can see what's planned and register an event or community
assembly on the TPP by clicking here. You can read our shared Call to
Action on that site, too.