U.S. Grain Industry Seeks to Restrict Wheat Imports from Canada

Despite 10 previous rulings that Canadian wheat is not unfairly subsidized, the North Dakota Wheat Commission has filed yet another complaint against the Canadian Wheat Board. The essence of the complaint is that the superior quality of Canadian wheat gives Canadian producers an unfair advantage in U.S. markets. The Americans are seeking to impose duties on Canadian imports that exceed 300,000 tonnes of durum and 500,000 tonnes of hard spring wheat.

Numerous studies have proven that the level of U.S. government subsidies to its wheat producers is several times higher than the level of subsidies provided to Canadian farmers by the federal government. Nevertheless, American producers are hostile to any competition whatsoever, and successive American administrations, despite their rhetoric about "free trade", have repeatedly violated international trade laws to restrict access to the U.S. market.