Will Canada surrender its trade sovereignty to oppose China and Russia?

The Barack Obama Administration is discontented with the Canadian Parliament tactics, given its constant membership in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TTP).

Photo: REX Photo

The US would like to know which concessions Canada is ready to make concerning agriculture, ahead of the meeting in Hawaii. State representatives are going to conclude a deal for TPP, which the US has attempted to create in order to control a rising influence of Russia and China in the Pacific region, as well as to withstand the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).

Canadian Trade Minister Ed Fast however, dismissed the Washington challenges, claiming that "the Americans prefer to negotiate this agreement through the media" and he won't.

Sources say as far as the U.S. is concerned, Canada promised that "things that weren't addressed in the North American free-trade agreement - poultry and dairy - were going to be addressed" in the Pacific Rim talks.

Some experts criticize such an initiative of the Canadian government, and note, that the country may lose its trade sovereignty in such a way.

While the Americans are also kept from seeing the text of the TTP agreement, such corporate giants as Walmart and Monsanto are granted the power to bypass Congress and the courts.

As initially reported in 2012, Canadian officials knew that their decision to join the TTP would require them to abandon the controls they had in place on their domestic dairy and livestock markets.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper insists that neither Canada's sovereignty nor its support of domestic industry would be offered in order to secure its admission to the TTP.

Tariffs of about 300 percent protect the Canadian poultry industry from competition from the United States or any other foreign competitor. American poultry farmers don't think that's fair and are slavering over the prospect of pushing poultry over the northern border.

As of 2013, the United States exported about $623 million worth of poultry to Canada, while that same year the United States imported about $287 million in Canadian chicken. 

Pravda.Ru has already reported on the protests in Europe against TTP creation.

Also read: Eric Kraus: Europeans ready to struggle against USA for freedom of trade

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