U.S.-Canada Corn Trade Dispute

Publication Date: April 2006

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: Agriculture, forestry and fishing; Trade

Type:

Abstract:

On April 20, 2006, the Canadian International Trade Tribunal (CITT) issued a final ruling of no injury in an anti-dumping (AD) and countervailing (CV) investigation of Canadian imports of U.S. unprocessed grain corn. The CITT finding reverses an earlier (December 15, 2005) preliminary positive injury finding by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) that had resulted in provisional duties of $1.65 per bushel applied to imported U.S. corn. Following the CITT finding, no further AD/CV duties will be imposed on U.S. corn, and all provisional duties collected following the preliminary CBSA ruling will be refunded.

U.S. trade officials, policy makers, and market participants, as well as Canadian corn users, have expressed satisfaction with the CITT ruling. In contrast, Canadian corn growers have voiced disappointment with the CITT ruling and have suggested that they might pursue further trade sanctions against imports of U.S. corn. This report provides background for understanding the U.S. and Canadian corn trade dispute, as well as historical and potential future developments in Canada's investigations of imports of U.S. corn. This report will be updated as events warrant.