UPDATE 1-Pork producers grumble over Canada in Asia-Pacific talks

* White House formally notifies Congress starting talks with

Canada

* Thirteenth round of TPP talks wraps up in San Diego

* Mexico also joining negotiations

(Adds byline; U.S. government, Canadian industry comment)

WASHINGTON, July 10 (Reuters) - Pork producers in the United

States, Australia and New Zealand urged their governments on

Tuesday to push for an end to Canadian pork subsidies as Canada

enters into talks on an Asia-Pacific free trade agreement.

"Canada needs to end its federal and provincial hog subsidy

programs, which are distorting the North American and world pork

markets," R.C. Hunt, president of the National Pork Producers

Council, said in a statement with industry leaders from the two

South Pacific countries.

The action came as the 13th round of negotiations on the

proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) wrapped up in San Diego

and the White House formally informed Congress that Canada would

be joining future talks on the pact.

"On behalf of President Obama, I am pleased to notify

Congress that we intend to include Canada in the ongoing

negotiations of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement," U.S.

Trade Representative Ron Kirk said in a letter.

Because of tough issues ranging from proposed rules on the

activities of state-owned enterprises to increased protections

for workers and the environment, many trade policy specialists

do not expect the TPP talks to finish until sometime in 2013.

Carol Guthrie, a spokeswoman for Kirk's office, said

negotiators made significant progress this week in San Diego in

a number of areas, including customs, cross-border services,

telecommunications, government procurement, competition policy,

and cooperation and trade capacity building.

Countries also set dates for a 14th round of talks in early

September in Leesburg, Virginia, she said.

The U.S., Australian, and New Zealand pork groups

acknowledged domestic farm subsidy programs are not usually

addressed by free trade pacts.

"However, in this case, Canadian agricultural subsidies are

so wide ranging and have such a broad and far-reaching impact on

overseas markets it is on these grounds we, along with the U.S.

and New Zealand, urge the TPP negotiators and governments to

deal with these issues fairly as part of the process," Andrew

Spencer, CEO of Australian Pork Limited, said.

CANADIAN PRODUCERS DISAGREE

U.S. hog groups raised similar concerns about Canadian hog

subsidies seven or eight years ago, and the U.S. Department of

Commerce determined they were not countervailable, said Martin

Rice, executive director of the Canadian Pork Council.

Since then, Canada's share of the world pork market has

declined as Canadian hog production dropped for several years

due to a strong Canadian dollar and high feed costs, he said.

"(The US) has sustained their production, we've cut ours

back, so it just doesn't make any sense, this allegation that

we're having some distorting effect on the world market."

Both Mexico and Canada were invited into the negotiations

last month by the nine TPP countries: the United States,

Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Peru, Singapore, Malaysia,

Vietnam and Brunei.

It is longstanding U.S. practice for the White House to

formally notify Congress before entering into actual trade

negotiations with any country.

Kirk sent a letter to Congress on Monday notifying of the

administration's intention to include Mexico in the TPP pact.

Canada has long been the United States' largest trading

partner, ahead of China and Mexico. Last year, two-way goods

trade totaled nearly $600 billion.

Mexico and Canada are already free trade partners with the

United States under the North American Free Trade Agreement,

which went into effect in 1994.

In his letter, Kirk touted Canada's entry into the TPP as

opportunity to update that 18-year-old pact with a "cutting-edge

agreement ... that will further enhance our trade relationship

and benefit U.S. workers, manufacturers, service supplies,

farmers, ranchers, small businesses and consumers."

(Additional reporting by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg; Editing by

Doina Chiacu and Cynthia Osterman)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/1-pork-producers-grumble-over-canada-asia-pacific-200308372--finance.html

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