Monday 25 May 2015

Groser on Canada

I like our Trade Minister:
New Zealand Trade Minister Tim Groser has attacked the Canadian milk production system, saying the industry belongs in the former Soviet Union and its market should be open to competition. A Canadian dairy industry analyst has come out to say he can not fathom New Zealand Trade Minister Tim Groser’s aggressive attack on the Canadian milk production system, in which the minister said the Canadian dairy industry belonged in the former Soviet Union and its market should be open to competition.
Bruce Muirhead, Associate Vice President of External Research at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, said Groser’s attack was misplaced and the New Zealand minister was "playing with fire".
Groser's far closer to right about this than Muirhead.
US milk producers want the Canadian dairy market opened too, but for the moment they are setting their sights on Fonterra in New Zealand.
They have gone on record as saying that if Fonterra isn’t fundamentally changed, it represents an unfair advantage for New Zealand and they are going to oppose NZ inclusion, at least Fonterra’s inclusion in the TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership) final agreement.
I'd reckoned the play here would come post-TPP: after we'd signed up, the Americans would launch antitrust action against farmer-cooperative Fonterra to block NZ milk imports. That could change where Obama's trying to cobble together a coalition to get fast-track authority though.

No comments:

Post a Comment