U.S. Chides Canada Over Farm Trade

The Clinton administration said Friday that it is concerned about Canada’s farm trade policies, which have caused a fresh border dispute to erupt with northern U.S. states over livestock and grain shipments.

“It is time for Canada to take decisive action to level the playing field,” said U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky. The U.S. is “highly concerned about Canada’s agricultural trade policies,” she said.

Barshefsky’s outburst followed Canada’s decision Thursday to ask for dispute settlement talks under both the North American Free Trade Agreement and the World Trade Organization, which governs international trade.

What provoked Canada was South Dakota Gov. William Janklow’s decision last week to block Canadian livestock and grain from entering his state by requiring new paperwork to certify that the cargo was free of certain animal drugs and plant diseases and weeds.

Janklow’s decision to give Canada “a dose of its own medicine” by blocking imports has been supported by governors in Idaho, Montana, North Dakota and Minnesota--which together make up a substantial portion of the northern U.S. border.

Those states have not gone as far as South Dakota, but they have stepped up inspections and taken other steps to slow down Canadian truck traffic.

In separate incidents earlier this week, farmers dumped piles of grain on U.S. Highway 281 in North Dakota to block Canadian truck traffic and stood in a group of 600 on U.S. Highway 15 in Montana for five hours to achieve the same purpose.