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Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA)

FTAA Draft Text, Canada's Positions and Proposals, and Frequently Asked Questions

Draft Chapter on Subsidies, Antidumping and Countervailing Duties - Canada's Position and Proposal

Canada's Position

Because the FTAA will not operate in a vacuum, it is necessary to consider its operation within the broader multilateral framework. In this regard, a distinction must be drawn between those issues that are properly the subject of a hemispheric agreement and those that, by their very nature, are more appropriately addressed at the WTO multilateral level and, in particular, in the current round of WTO multilateral trade negotiations.

In this regard, Canada is of the view that many of the issues raised by other delegations are more appropriately dealt with in the WTO given, for example, that antidumping and countervailing duty investigations often involve imports from both FTAA and non-FTAA countries and the impracticality of applying different sets of rules in the context of the same investigation.

Canada's position, therefore, is that, except as otherwise provided in this Chapter, the WTO Agreement should continue to govern subsidies and the application of antidumping and countervailing duties in respect of hemispheric trade.

That said, the FTAA negotiations afford an opportunity to clarify and make certain improvements to the operation of current trade remedy rules in the Hemisphere, such as:

more stringent requirements for the initiation of dumping and subsidy investigations against hemispheric trade partners;
the introduction of greater transparency and procedural fairness in antidumping and countervailing duty investigations to ensure that all parties are afforded a reasonable opportunity to defend their trade interests;
the adoption by all FTAA countries in their national laws of a procedure to allow for the consideration of broader public interests that may arise in the particular circumstances of an antidumping or countervailing duty investigation, (e.g., relating to domestic competition concerns and the impact of antidumping and countervailing duties on consumers and downstream industries);
the adoption by all FTAA countries of a "lesser duty" option in the context of public interest proceedings;
the clarification of antidumping and countervailing duty enforcement requirements in order to reduce uncertainty as to importers' final duty liability; and,
an appropriate and effective mechanism for the timely resolution of FTAA disputes.