U.S. Takes CWB Practices to World Trade Organization

U.S. Trade Representative Robert B. Zoellick has announced that the United States will file a case against Canada in the World Trade Organization (WTO) over the wheat trading practices of the monopolistic Canadian Wheat Board (CWB).

The U.S. is challenging as unfair and burdensome Canada’s requirements to segregate imported grain in the Canadian grain handling system, along with Canada’s discriminatory policy that affects U.S. grain access to Canada’s rail transportation system.

The U.S. WTO proposal calls for the elimination of the monopoly powers of state trade enterprises such as the Canadian Wheat Board, says Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman. Zoellick says that as a monopoly, the CWB’s “special benefits and privileges put American wheat farmers at a disadvantage and undermine the integrity of the international trading system.”

The trade case was initially brought forward by the North Dakota Wheat Commission.