The economic analysis related to the Canadian Wheat Board in the U.S. Countervailing duty investigation of live cattle from Canada

Economic arguments came into play in the recent U.S. Commerce Department inquiry into the allegation of unfair Canadian government subsidies provided to Canadian cattlemen. The central claim was that the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB), through its control over feed barley exports, was restraining exports, thereby increasing the domestic Canadian supply and decreasing the price of that commodity. Dr. Colin Carter provided economic argument on behalf of the U.S. petitioner, to which Dr. Andrew Schmitz and Dr. Richard Gray responded on behalf of the Government of Canada. Dr. Carter asserted that the CWB has indirectly discouraged the export of feed barley through high grain marketing and handling costs and inefficiencies in transmitting pricing information to farmers. He argued that claimed inefficiencies stemmed from the CWB's status as a single desk seller and its price pooling system. Drs. Schmitz and Gray responded in part that none of these claims could be substantiated. The Commerce Department largely sidestepped these economic arguments, instead finding no significant differential in U.S. and Canadian feed barley pricing in the investigation period. On that basis it concluded that the CWB provided no benefit or unlawful subsidy to live cattle producers. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.