WASHINGTON, July 1, 2015 – Now that President Obama
has signed a bill to put pending trade deals on the “fast track,” Agriculture
Secretary Tom Vilsack says the administration has “great momentum” to conclude
the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and to generate more enthusiasm for a
potential Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP) deal with the
European Union.
“We can now tell our negotiating partners that we
can have an up or down vote in Congress. And we have our instructions from Congress
in terms of what is important to them,” Vilsack said during an interview with Agri-Pulse. And he expects that, in some
respects, selling the TPP in Washington might be an easier proposition than Trade
Promotion Authority (TPA). To
listen to Vilsack discuss trade and COOL, click here:
“It could be easier because we will have a (TPP)
document that everyone can see and read before the vote,” Vilsack noted. He’s
confident Americans are going to see a TPP with expanded market access for U.S.
agricultural products, a better system for addressing sanitary and
phytosanitary barriers, and an improved process by which the U.S. can strike
down those barriers that are not science-based. The pending deal with 11 other
countries throughout the Asian-Pacific region could expand exports by $123
billion, he added.
“Every time we increase ag exports by $1 billion, it
supports 6,500 jobs,” Vilsack added. So when a new trade pact is in hand, “you
will be able to talk about specifics, the improvements to market access and the
industries that will benefit.”
Still, Vilsack says “it’s key that we get these
negotiations concluded quickly and I think that’s the intent from Ambassador
Froman and his team at USTR…. hopefully, sometime this fall we’ll see Congress
weighing in and hopefully getting the votes to pass.”
Some trade analysts suggests that the core of the
deal could be completed as early as this month. New Zealand Trade Minister Tim
Groser suggested such a timeline on Tuesday, according to Scoop
Business.
"Now that Congress has spoken, it is showtime,"
Groser said in a speech to the US/NZ Partnership Forum in Auckland. "I
have learned never to be dogmatic about timetables, but the scenario that I and
my negotiators are working to is that we have to get the basic political deal
done by the end of July, including finalising all the chapter texts, leaving
only legal rectification by experts to be done thereafter," the New
Zealand website reported.
But moving too quickly may reduce the chances for
the U.S. and Canada to come to terms on tough issues like dairy policy reform.
Collin Peterson, the House Committee on
Agriculture’s ranking Democrat, told Agri-Pulse
that one of the things he was trying to do with his “no” vote on TPA was delay
moving the measure to the president “because it would make it more likely that
we’d be able to get a good outcome with the Canadians.
“They have an election coming up in September. If
they got rid of their (dairy) supply management system or what was seen as
getting rid of it….they would lose the election. So I don’t think the Canadians
are in a position to make a deal before the election,” he added.
However, Vilsack offered optimism about negotiations
with our northern trading partners.
“I wouldn’t say they’ve come to the table completely
but we have seen indications recently of a willingness to negotiate more in
good faith than they have in the past. Passage of TPA removes that last excuse
the Canadians have been using to not negotiate in a meaningful and strong way.”
#30
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