Summary: U.S.-Canadian grain trade has been a source of contentious debate between the two countries during the past dozen years as Canadian wheat exports to the United States have increased. Some U.S. grain industry participants and observers have been concerned about this increase, partly because grain sales are handled differently in the two countries. In the United States, private grain companies compete to buy and sell grain. In Canada, most of the grain trade is handled by the Canadian Wheat Board, a government-backed entity, to which western Canadian farmers must sell their wheat and barley for domestic human consumption or export. Some critics charge that the Canadian Wheat Board engages in unfair trade practices. This report discusses (1) the Board's operations, government assistance to the Board and the Canadian farmer, and ongoing changes to the environment in which the Board operates; (2) the availability of data to ascertain the Board's pricing practices and efforts to increase the amount of data available; and (3) the nature of trade remedies available to address the operations of state trading enterprises and the frequency with which these remedies have been applied to state trading enterprises. GAO also provides information on the Board's role in the commodities and futures markets, a summary of studies on the Board's effect on the Canadian farmer, and the applicability of U.S. antitrust laws to the Board.
