Posted on 03/03/2018 4:16:45 PM PST by nickcarraway
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s recent trip to India may have caused a diplomatic row, but he insists it had nothing to do with India’s decision to hike tariffs on chickpeas this week — and he has good reason for saying so.
Canada’s industry group for chickpea growers says the type of chickpea Canada specializes in is in fact exempt from the most recent tariff increase.
“Ninety-five per cent of the chickpeas grown in Canada are kabuli variety,” said Madeleine Goodwin, head of communications for Pulse Canada. “Agriculture Canada has informed us that kabuli chickpeas are exempt from today’s tariff increase.”
Agriculture Canada did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation.
Earlier on Friday, Trudeau had called the tariff hike “a domestic choice by India” that affects Australia more than Canada, and said his discussions with India Prime Minister Narendra Modi focused particularly on a dispute over fumigating Canadian exports for pests.
That didn’t stop his political opponents from drawing a connection to the trip, as Conservatives called for Trudeau to apologize to Canadian farmers.
But one independent expert who watches the sector closely agreed the tariff hike was unrelated to Trudeau’s follies in India.
“There is no way that there would be any link between Trudeau’s visit and this decision to increase the import duty on chickpeas,” said Brian Clancey, an analyst with Vancouver-based Stat Publishing. “The country that is principally affected by that is Australia, which sells hundreds of thousands of metric tonnes of chickpeas to India per year. We sell a few thousand. Russia is a more important supplier of chickpeas to India than Canada.”
He said the big concern with the tariff hike is whether it’s followed by further hikes on products Canada does export a lot of to India, such as yellow peas and red lentils. Pulse Canada said Canada’s annual chickpea exports to India have averaged $5 million over the past four years, compared to about $500 million each for both peas and lentils.
India’s sudden tariff hikes began last November, when it imposed a 50 percent tariff on peas and then followed up in December with a 30 percent tariff on chickpeas and lentils. It then hiked the tariff on chickpeas to 40 per cent on Feb. 7, and to 60 per cent on Thursday. Goodwin said her understanding is the earlier tariff hikes still apply to kabuli chickpeas, but not the most recent one.
Clancey said the moves are part of a push by Modi’s government to give political support to farmers and make India self-sufficient in pulses (a term for edible seeds).
The controversy started because the new tariff hike follows closely on Trudeau’s seven-day visit to India, which ended Feb. 24. The trip was the subject of much criticism, initially for the Trudeau family’s choice of extravagant attire for photo-ops, and then for a full-blown diplomatic incident after a Liberal MP invited Jaspal Atwal, a Canadian man once convicted of trying to assassinate an Indian cabinet minister, to a dinner hosted by Canada’s high commission.
A senior Canadian security official later told the media it was suspicious Atwal had even been allowed into India, and suggested rogue actors in India’s government may have been trying to embarrass Canada for being soft on Khalistani extremism. Earlier this week, an official spokesperson for the Indian government called such speculation “baseless and unacceptable.”
On Friday, following the news of the tariff hike — but before it emerged that Canada’s chickpeas were largely exempt — the Conservatives blasted the Liberals in the House of Commons.
Conservative MP Candice Bergen called the hike “a clear signal that India is understandably upset,” and demanded to know what Trudeau would do to fix the relationship with India.
Trudeau wasn’t in Ottawa on Friday, but at an event in Barrie, Ont., he insisted he was fighting for Canadian farmers in his discussions with India and said both sides had agreed to work on better predictability around setting tariffs.
“This is obviously an ongoing issue that we’re going to continue to stand up for Canadian interests on,” Trudeau said.
The thorniest issue when it comes to pulses is on fumigating for pests, Clancey said. India declined to renew an exemption for Canada last fall, causing Canadian producers to pay fines on their exports to the country.
“Our sales to India have gone down precipitously (since the fall),” said Clancey. “The big political issue for Canada is to get things resolved … and that was really the crux of what I thought that trip was about.”
On that front, Trudeau and Modi made a joint announcement on Feb. 23 that they would finalize an agreement on the fumigation issue by the end of the year.
“The pulse industry made real progress today,” said a statement that day from Pulse Canada.
Turdeau ALERT!
Way to much to do about nothing. The Indian triff apparently doesnt affect Canada
Cucks are very good at blame-shifting and they are never, ever wrong.
Inconveniencing and publically shaming a cuck is most virtuous thing that a man can do.
Trudeau is a chickpea.
Anyone who would use that term is one.
“This is obviously an ongoing issue that we’re going to continue to stand up for Canadian interests on,” Trudeau said.”
He sounds like a White Nationalist.
Trudeau is a faggit and should be required to wear a tutu at all public appearances.
Justin is not among the best and the brightest.
Nice guy perhaps, but congenital 'tard qualities on his best day.
Squabbling over... chickpeas? They sure do play small ball up there, which is a relief. That really limits the damage Justin Bieber-Castro can do to the world.
He’s not much on sentence structure but he does play dress-up really, really well, so at least there’s that.
I was thinking more dingleberry.
One simple and tasty snack I miss is popped chick peas smothered with hot dried chili powder and coconut oil & salt. So doggone tasty!!
“Anyone who would use that term is one.”
Nickcarraway has a crush on Trudeau!
So, when you think of him what is he wearing?
What? We can’t grow our own chickpeas?
Another tweezer wielding Western leader substitute.
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