Trade expert touts Canadian advantages over U.S. farmers

Adversity is opportunity when it comes to trade, and things have never been better for exporters in the Canadian agriculture industry according to a think-tank expert.

Carlo Dade, director of the Canada West Foundation’s centre for trade and investment policy, addressed farmers in Saskatoon Tuesday at the annual Crop Production Show.

He said Canadian producers currently have more access to international markets than ever before, despite the public doom-and-gloom over trade wars and NAFTA negotiations involving the U.S.

“This is a really good time if you’re a Canadian exporter,” he said. “We have advantages that the Americans don’t have.”

Dade pointed to the recently negotiated Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), which gives access to over 20 European markets, as well as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) signed two years ago.

The TPP provides access to 10 countries bordering the Pacific Ocean, and because of President Donald Trump’s decision to pull out, Canada has a more exclusive market opportunity.

“The Americans were able to get these countries to give more (in tariff reductions and market access) than we could have ever gotten out of these countries negotiating one-on-one,” he said.

“The Americans left, but that access and those cuts are still on the table. So we benefit doubly from a better deal than we could have gotten for ourselves… and by the Americans not being there.”

However, Dade admits it can be dizzying trying to keep up with the mood of the day south of the border.

And with Canada’s economy highly dependent on international trade, that uncertainty can be a cause for concern.

“People are worried that there is no sense in the world anymore, that common sense doesn’t prevail when it comes to trade,” he said.

“When there’s turmoil globally in trade, people here are going to get nervous. But the opportunity is there: in adversity there’s opportunity.”

With that positive outlook, Dade noted Canadians could gain advantages in even the most dramatic trade situations.

Case in point: if U.S. congress decides not to ratify the new USMCA trade deal and Trump pulls the Americans out of NAFTA.

“Then they’ve just handed us the Mexican market,” Dade said.

“Does that replace the U.S. market? No, obviously not. But we’re not going to lose the entire U.S. market and we gain significant advantages in Mexico.”