The International Politics of Agricultural Trade: Canadian-American Relations in a Global Agricultural Context

Edelgard E. Mahant is a professor of Political Science at Laurentian
University.

“This book examines Canadian-U.S. agricultural trade issues with a
view to expanding our knowledge of the bilaterial relationship.” That
is a good summary, for this book consists of factual descriptions of
three topics: the various measures the two governments have used to
dispose of agricultural surpluses; their interactions on this subject in
international forums; and, to a lesser extent, Canadian-American
bilateral discussions of agricultural issues. The book includes some
brief statistical tables and an extensive bibliography. For anyone
interested in the means the two governments have used to dispose of
agricultural surpluses, this book constitutes an excellent source.

From the point of view of political analysis (in the political science
sense), the book is much less satisfactory. Cohn attempts to introduce
scientific vocabulary by listing “independent” and “dependent”
variables, but not until the conclusion. Moreover, his independent
variables, such as “relative economic size” and the “U.S. balance
of payments,” are background factors rather than variables. He
confuses the issues further by calling conflict an independent variable,
and co-operation a dependent one; strange, since both are listed as
dependent variables seven pages earlier.

Cohn does attempt to distinguish between trade policy’s
political-security and the economic objectives, but he is not explicit
as to which motive predominated at which time. He suggests that economic
motives may come to the fore at times of surplus production, but he also
points out that political objectives were important during the Cold War.
He does not explore the possible motivation of differences of Canadian
and American policies. Previous scholarship suggests that Canada, as a
middle power, is more likely than the superpower to act out of economic
motivation.

Totally ignored is the ethical context of international agricultural
trade—that is, the fact that, as the Economist so aptly stated several
years ago, governments’ agricultural policies constitute a “haywain
into hell.” That disposing agricultural surpluses should be a problem
while millions lack basic nutrition is an incongruity that policy-makers
should make it their priority to rectify. Rich governments subsidize
farmers who produce goods that those same governments then dump onto
world markets, thereby depressing prices. Farmers in poor countries
cannot compete against these subsidized products, and their governments
cannot afford to subsidize them. Moreover, the burgeoning urban
population of many Third World countries, swelled by farmers forced off
the land because farming does not pay, demands cheap food. Governments
that have tried to deny this not-so-unreasonable demand have either had
to back down or have been overthrown. The governments of both developed
and developing countries will have to co-operate to break out of this
truly vicious circle. That is the context in which Canadian-American
agricultural trade takes place.