Canada challenges China’s canola ban at WTO

OTTAWA: Canada, locked in a major dispute with Beijing, is taking the first formal step at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to challenge China’s decision to block Canadian canola exports, Trade Minister Jim Carr said on Friday.

China, angry at Canada’s detention of a top Huawei Technologies executive last year on a US arrest warrant, blocked all imports of canola seed in March on the grounds they contained pests. “We have continuously been engaging with China at multiple levels. The issue is that we’re not seeing progress fast enough and as we would with any trading partner, this is the next step,” Carr spokesman Michael Jones said.

Carr said in a statement that Ottawa was seeking bilateral consultations with China at the WTO. Under WTO rules, Canada and China should meet within 30 days, and if these talks fail, Canada can request adjudication by a panel. The WTO timeline means there is slim chance of a resolution before Canadians vote in a federal election on October 21. Polls show Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals face a tough fight against the opposition Conservatives. Conservative leader Andrew Scheer, who has strong political support from Canada’s agriculture community, has attacked the prime minister for being weak in his dealings with China.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 8^th, 2019.

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