The US on Friday filed a trade complaint against Canada over unfair regulations that Washington says impede the sale of US wine in one of the northern neighbor’s provinces.
Adding another item to the growing list of US trade disputes, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said the US filed a case with the WTO after discussions last year failed to resolve the dispute.
He cited the “discriminatory” and “unacceptable” regulations in British Columbia, in western Canada, that exclude all imported wine from grocery store shelves, only allowing it to be sold in a separate “store within a store” structure.
“Canada is an important market for US winemakers,” Lighthizer said in a statement. “The practice of discriminating against US wine is unfair and cannot be tolerated.”
“The Trump administration will continue to hold our trading partners accountable by vigorously enforcing US rights under our trade agreements and by promoting fair and reciprocal trade through all available tools, including the WTO,” he said.
US wine exports to the Canadian province last year totaled US$56 million and US wine had a 10 percent share of the market.
The two countries have exchanged a host of trade complaints over lumber, paper, aircraft and US anti-dumping duties, in addition to being locked in fraught negotiations with Mexico to renew the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday spoke with US President Donald Trump and raised “strong concerns” about a US probe into car and truck imports that was launched this week, the prime minister’s office said.
The two leaders also discussed the NAFTA negotiations and bringing talks to a timely conclusion, the office said.
Trudeau “raised strong concerns about the US’ Section 232 investigation on automobile imports, given the mutually beneficial integration of the Canadian and American auto industries,” it said.
The investigation was based on flimsy logic and part of pressure from Washington to renegotiate NAFTA, Trudeau said in an interview on Thursday.
There was about a 40 percent chance of concluding the NAFTA talks before Mexico’s presidential election on July 1, Mexican Minister of Economy Ildefonso Guajardo said on Friday.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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