Canadian beef and pork farmers frustrated by an ongoing dispute with Britain over meat exports are calling on members of Parliament to vote against the U.K.'s membership in a major Asia-Pacific trade group.
"It's unacceptable," said Canadian Cattle Association president Nathan Phinney in an interview Monday, two days after an announcement that the U.K. has been granted accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership .The CPTPP, first established in 2018, is a trading bloc made up of Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.
But the Canadian Cattle Association and the Canadian Pork Council, as well as Canadian meat processors and exporters, say the U.K. does not deserve a place in a bloc dedicated to open trade. They note that under the post-Brexit agreement that replicates the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between Canada and the European Union, the U.K. in the past two years has exported more than 7,000 tonnes of beef valued at close to $40 million to Canada.
“I think at this juncture there’s just a real frustration," said Chris White, president and CEO of the Canadian Meat Council, which represents the country's meat processing plants.While other markets in the CPTPP are far more valuable than the British market to Canadian beef and pork producers , White said the industry is concerned a precedent is being set.
International Trade Minister Mary Ng congratulated the U.K. Saturday on its accession to the CPTPP, saying that the benefits of the trading bloc will grow with the U.K. as a member. Canada and Britain are also currently separately negotiating a bilateral trade deal, and"continue to push for Canadian agricultural interests, including commercially meaningful access for pork and beef," said Ng's press secretary Shanti Cosentino in an email.
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