April 19, 2016
Agri, food groups urge US Congress: Pass TPP
A total of 225 US agricultural and food organisations and companies have joined forces to urge Congress to pass the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement during its current session.
In a letter to the leaders of the House of Representatives and the Senate, the food and agriculture industry asked Congress to approve the TPP this year as it "will help level the playing field for US exports and create new opportunities for us in the highly competitive Asia-Pacific region", which accounts for nearly 40 percent of global GDP.
"The TPP is critical to the livelihood of the US food and agriculture sector because it will create conditions that encourage economic growth and increased employment in rural areas and throughout the supply chain. Exports are fundamental to the success of the agricultural industry because 95 percent of the world''s consumers live outside of the United States and 20 percent of US farm income is from exports", the letter stated.
The letter''s signatories-including big companies and national livestock and crop groups like Cargill, DuPont Pioneer, Hormel Foods, North American Meat Institute, National Chicken Council, National Pork Producers Council, National Sorghum Producers, National Corn Growers Association, National Grain and Feed Association, National Oilseed Processors Association and National Cattlemen''s Beef Association-pointed out that while some tariffs remain, the "overall TPP agreement successfully tears down many tariff and non-tariff trade barriers that currently hinder US competitiveness and prevent us from meeting consumer demand for high-quality US food and agricultural products throughout the Asia-Pacific region".
"The TPP will not only remove barriers for our exports to 11 key Asia-Pacific countries, but it will also provide much-needed leverage on future market access opportunities in potential TPP members such as Taiwan, the Philippines and Indonesia", the signatories said.
The letter quoted a study by the Peterson Institute for International Economics that said "delaying the launch of TPP by even a year would represent a $94 billion permanent loss, or opportunity cost, to the U.S. economy".
"With net farm income at its lowest level since 2002, the costs of inaction are too high for us to ignore. We must act now", the letter stated with urgency.
Meanwhile, the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC), one of the signatories, said in statement that the TPP-which also includes Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam-could be the "biggest commercial opportunity ever for US pork producers", and cited Iowa State University economist Dermot Hayes'' projection that the agreement would exponentially increase US pork exports to Pacific Rim countries and help create more than 10,000 US jobs tied to those exports.
NPPC President John Weber, who is a pork producer from Dysart, Iowa, warned US pork producers against other countries that may artificially stimulate pork production through support programs that would undermine "the concessions they made in the TPP negotiations".
"There are still some critically important issues that need to be worked through, but I''m confident they will be resolved well before Congress votes on the deal", he said.
Negotiations on the TPP were concluded in October 2015, and the partnership was signed in Auckland, New Zealand, on Feb. 4.