Pork producers release ag groups’ TPP letter
August 29, 2013 | 06:38 PM
An ad hoc coalition of 37 agriculture and food organizations has written a letter to U.S. officials stating the principles that they believe should be followed in the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, the National Pork Producers Council said this week.
The July 15 letter, written to Trade Representative Michael Forman and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, calls for all products to be on the table, and that the agreement must cover sanitary and phytosanitary issues and be comprehensive, covering all sectors.
The letter was signed by the American Farm Bureau Federation, some commodity groups and many meat and processor groups, but not by the National Farmers Union or sugar groups, which are resisting increased access to the U.S. markets. That division is part of a pattern that is common with trade letters.
“The TPP represents the single most important trade negotiation ever for the U.S. pork industry and for most of U.S. agriculture,” said NPPC President Randy Spronk, a pork producer from Edgerton, Minn., in the news release.
“But for it to be a comprehensive, high-quality 21st Century agreement, it must include all sectors, address SPS issues and tariffs and be enforceable,” Spronke said. “TPP can be a win-win for all the countries involved if it meets those criteria.”
Separately, NPPC informed its members that NPPC Vice President and Counsel for International Affairs Nick Giordano last week traveled to Chile to attend meetings with Chilean agricultural groups in connection with the negotiations and with a Chilean safeguard investigation of the impact of frozen pork imports, including imports from the United States, on the Chilean industry.
NPPC noted that 95 percent of the pork consumed in Chile is domestically produced, but that U.S. exports to Chile have grown. NPPC also noted that the organization recently hosted a Vietnamese delegation and that discussions on animal health and food safety regulations were held.
The July 15 letter, written to Trade Representative Michael Forman and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, calls for all products to be on the table, and that the agreement must cover sanitary and phytosanitary issues and be comprehensive, covering all sectors.
The letter was signed by the American Farm Bureau Federation, some commodity groups and many meat and processor groups, but not by the National Farmers Union or sugar groups, which are resisting increased access to the U.S. markets. That division is part of a pattern that is common with trade letters.
“The TPP represents the single most important trade negotiation ever for the U.S. pork industry and for most of U.S. agriculture,” said NPPC President Randy Spronk, a pork producer from Edgerton, Minn., in the news release.
“But for it to be a comprehensive, high-quality 21st Century agreement, it must include all sectors, address SPS issues and tariffs and be enforceable,” Spronke said. “TPP can be a win-win for all the countries involved if it meets those criteria.”
Separately, NPPC informed its members that NPPC Vice President and Counsel for International Affairs Nick Giordano last week traveled to Chile to attend meetings with Chilean agricultural groups in connection with the negotiations and with a Chilean safeguard investigation of the impact of frozen pork imports, including imports from the United States, on the Chilean industry.
NPPC noted that 95 percent of the pork consumed in Chile is domestically produced, but that U.S. exports to Chile have grown. NPPC also noted that the organization recently hosted a Vietnamese delegation and that discussions on animal health and food safety regulations were held.
