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Canada's Agricultural Trade Policy: Choices and Challenges
Author(s) -
Veeman Michele
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
canadian journal of agricultural economics/revue canadienne d'agroeconomie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.505
H-Index - 37
eISSN - 1744-7976
pISSN - 0008-3976
DOI - 10.1111/j.1744-7976.1998.tb00961.x
Subject(s) - free trade , economics , context (archaeology) , negotiation , commercial policy , agriculture , trade barrier , liberalization , international economics , international trade , multilateral trade negotiations , small open economy , business , market economy , political science , macroeconomics , paleontology , ecology , exchange rate , law , biology
As a small open economy, Canada has a considerable interest in the achievement of substantive trade liberalization for agriculture in a multilateral context. Despite the advantages of a multi lateral approach to international trade rules, there are clear economic benefits for small countries like Canada from pursuing unilateral trade liberalization. In the context of Canadian agricultural policy this would require a considerable adjustment to the high levels of protection afforded Canada's supply‐managed sectors. The benefits of an open economy are often not reflected in public discussions or in the language of trade negotiations. Instead these tend to reflect a focus on rent‐seeking by special interest groups. This misrepresents the concessions of reduced trade barriers as costs, rather than recognizing them as benefits. There is a challenge for agricultural and applied economists to spell out the benefits of an open economy more clearly. A related useful focus of research is to explore the conditions and the nature of compensation to producer groups that would encourage rapid unilateral trade liberalization.