The Trump administration stated on Friday that it made a request that the World Trade Organization set up a dispute settlement panel to rule on its claim of Canada’s “discriminatory” trade practices involving U.S. wine, CNBC informed.
The dispute with Canada relates to policies at the provincial level that limit grocery store access to American wines. The marketplace for alcohol in several big Canadian provinces is controlled by government-run enterprises and liquor control boards, and in some cases they own and operate state-run retail networks.
Friday’s action specifically relates to the province of British Columbia, where liquor authorities in 2015 amended rules to allow regular grocery stores to start selling wine and liquor but in doing so separated U.S. and other imported wine from B.C.-only product. Even so, American wine industry executives say the U.S. industry continues to have market access issues in other Canadian provinces, including Ontario and Quebec.
Last year, the U.S. held consultations with Canada on the wine issue, but those talks failed to resolve the matter. The request for establishment of a WTO dispute panel is the next step in the settlement process.
The trade action was jointly announced by U.S. Trade Representative Robert E. Lighthizer and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, who requested that the WTO set up a dispute settlement panel to look at “unfair regulations” that govern the sale of wine in grocery stores in B.C.
According to the announcement, B.C.’s policy of excluding imported wine from grocery store shelves gives “substantial competitive advantage” to B.C. wine. “These regulations appear to breach Canada’s WTO commitments and have adversely affected U.S. wine producers.”
Canada is the largest single country market for U.S. wine, according to the Wine Institute, a trade organization representing more than 1,000 wineries and related businesses in California. California-produced wine is the No. 1 table wine category in B.C., and the retail value of U.S. wine sales to all of Canada last year was almost $1.1 billion.
“Wine Institute greatly appreciates the Trade Representative’s continued efforts to end these discriminatory practices and hold Canada accountable for their WTO obligations,” said Robert Koch, president and CEO of the Wine Institute. “Canadian consumers should have the same access to the vast array of the world’s great wines.”
Be the first to comment