Canada has suspended its World Trade Organization (WTO) case against China regarding canola.
At the request of Canada, the WTO Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) panel suspended its work on the case as of Tuesday. A communication from the panel on Thursday said that China has welcomed Canada’s decision.
The genesis of the WTO case dates to early 2019, when China revoked the canola export licenses of two major Canadian grain companies, Richardson International and Viterra, alleging pest contamination in their shipments. However, the move was more widely seen as payback for Canada’s arrest of Meng Wanzhou, an executive for Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies, at the Vancouver airport in late 2018 at the behest of the US.
However, Meng was released by Canadian authorities and returned to China last year after reaching a deal with US prosecutors. In May of this year, China suddenly lifted its ban on canola shipments from both Richardson and Viterra, essentially allowing normal trade to resume. With China’s lifting of the ban, the WTO case was redundant.
Click here to see more...