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Increased U.S.
Imports of Fresh Fruit and Vegetables have allowed U.S. consumers
to eat more fruit and vegetables and enjoy year-round access
to various fresh produce. Primary suppliers are the North American
Free Trade Agreement region for fresh vegetables, the Southern
Hemisphere countries for off-season fresh fruit, and equatorial
countries for bananas.
Recent Agricultural Policy Reforms
in North America identifies countercyclical assistance as
the common thread in the recent agricultural policy innovations
of the United States, Mexico,and Canada. In other areas, the
three countries are pursuing distinct agricultural policies,
reflecting differing national objectives and economic contexts.
NAFTA at 13: Implementation Nears
Completion evaluates the impact of the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA) as implementation of the accord draws
to a close. Just a handful of the agricultural trade restrictions
scheduled to be phased out under NAFTA remain, and these are
scheduled for elimination in 2008. Once NAFTA is fully
implemented, the member countries—Canada, Mexico, and the
United States—will need to exercise their national autonomy,
either individually or in concert, to achieve further integration
of their agricultural markets.
Canada: A Macroeconomic Study
of the United States’ Most Important Trade Partner reports
that Canada is a large exporter to the United States of critical
raw materials—including natural gas, petroleum, and wood
products—and a substantial importer of finished industrial
and consumer goods. Agricultural trade between the two countries
continues to grow in importance, reflecting trade liberalization
and greater integration of agricultural markets.
Market Integration
of the North American Animal Products Complex examines the economic
integration of the beef, pork, and poultry industries of Mexico,
Canada, and the United States over the past two decades. Sanitary
barriers, which are designed to protect people and animals from
diseases, are among the more significant barriers to more complete
integration of meat and animal markets.
North
America Moves Toward One Market describes how the agricultural
sectors of Canada, Mexico, and the United States are increasingly
behaving as if they form a single market. For example, many livestock
in North America have lived in at least two of these countries,
and U.S. consumers are purchasing fresh produce from both Mexico
and Canada. NAFTA at 11: The Growing
Integration of North American Agriculture provides additional
information on this subject, as it relates to the North American
Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
Recent Agricultural Policy Reforms
in North America identifies countercyclical assistance as the
common thread in the recent agricultural policy innovations of the
United States, Mexico,and Canada. In other areas, the three countries
are pursuing distinct agricultural policies, reflecting differing
national objectives and economic contexts.
North
American Greenhouse Tomatoes Emerge as a Major Market Force
reviews the rapid growth of the greenhouse tomato industry in North
American and its impact on the field tomato industry. Canada is
the biggest producer, followed by the United States and Mexico.
For the full report, see Greenhouse
Tomatoes Change the Dynamics of the North American Fresh Tomato
Industry.
NAFTA at 11: The Growing Integration
of North American Agriculture reports that the agricultural
sectors of Canada, Mexico, and the United States have become much
more integrated in the 11 years since implementation of the North
American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). U.S. direct investment in
the Mexican processed food sector has increased, and sales by Canadian,
Mexican, and U.S. multinational food companies throughout the NAFTA
region have risen, giving consumers access to a wider variety of
products.
Market Integration
in the North American Hog Industries reports that about 8 percent
of the hogs slaughtered in the United States in 2004 will originate
in Canada, many more than 10 years ago. Canadian hogs have flowed
into the United States in response to significant structural changes
in the U.S. pork industry, policy changes in Canada, and a strong
U.S./Canadian dollar exchange rate. For an Amber Waves article
on this topic, see U.S.-Canadian
Hog Trade: Market Integration at Work.
U.S. Agriculture and the Free Trade
Area of the Americas (FTAA) examines the free trade area under
negotiation among the United States and 33 countries in the Western
Hemisphere. The FTAA will progressively liberalize trade and investment
in the region, leading to an estimated 6-percent increase in annual
U.S. agricultural exports to the Hemisphere and a 3-percent increase
in annual U.S. agricultural imports from the Hemisphere.
North American Agricultural Market
Integration and Its Impact on the Food and Fiber System reviews
the increasing integration of agricultural markets in Canada,
Mexico,
and the United States that has resulted in more efficient use of
continental resources. The North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA), technological change, and fundamental
forces of supply and demand have helped bring about a more unified
North American agricultural market.
Many factors determine the Structure
of the Global Markets for Meat, including the relative availability
of resources for raising and processing animals for meat. Countries'
preferences for various cuts of meat provide opportunities for international
trade.
International Evidence on Food
Consumption Patterns analyzes expenditures across 114 countries
on major consumption categories, including food and different food
subcategories. Results indicate poorer countries are more responsive
to price and income changes and also allocate larger shares of their
total budget to necessities such as food.
NAFTA's Impacts
on U.S. Agriculture: Trade and Beyond concludes that NAFTA has
generally benefited U.S. agriculture and related industries. NAFTA
contributed to a more than doubling of U.S. agricultural trade with
Canada and Mexico in the 1990s. Beyond direct trade impacts, NAFTA
established rules and institutions that mitigate potential trade
frictions, promote foreign direct investment, and facilitate discourse
on environmental issues.
Effects of North American Free
Trade Agreement on Agriculture and the Rural Economy examines
developments in trade, policies, dispute resolution, employment,
and investment. The trade assessment focuses on 35 commodities and
commodity groupings. Also addressed are recent developments in U.S.-Mexico
transportation and the relationship between trade liberalization
and the environment.
Canada's
Subsidized Dairy Exports: The Issue of WTO Compliance reviews
Canadian dairy policy in light of a July 2001 World Trade Organization
(WTO)
compliance panel ruling against Canada in a dispute over the country's
subsidized dairy exports. The panel found Canada's dairy export
subsidies inconsistent with its WTO commitments. Since this article
was published, the WTO Appellate Body ruled in January 2002
that it could not back the Compliance Panel's ruling because
it had
used an incorrect price standard to conclude that subsidization
was taking place. The Panel subsequently re-heard the case using
new data and again ruled against Canada. Canada appealed and, in
December 2002, the WTO Dispute Settlement Body ruled that the Canadian
program still constituted a WTO-illegal export subsidy. In May
2003, Canada entered into an agreement with the United States
and New Zealand to settle the dispute resolution process and
reduce
dairy
exports
to within their WTO export subsidy limits.
U.S.-Canada
Wheat Trade: The Intersection of Geography and Economics reviews
the dramatic increase in U.S. imports of Canadian wheat in the early
1990s and assesses the factors involved, among them geography, weather,
and market economics.
Canada's Agriculture:
5 Years After the End of Transportation Subsidies assesses the
impact of the 1995 repeal of Canada's Western Grain Transportation
Act. The repeal raised costs of transporting grains to export points,
diversified agricultural production in Western Canada, and provided
greater incentives for feed grains to remain in the region to support
the livestock sector.
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