News

U.S. ag “needs” TPA

A U.S. member of a trade advisory committee for the Trans Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) says Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) would greatly help those trade talks with the European Union – and – other trade deals.

Gina Tumbarello, Director of International Trade Policy with the American Feed Industry Association, tells Brownfield it would assure potential trade partners that Congress could not amend trade agreements AFTER they are reached.

“Our U.S. negotiators (would) have the authority to negotiate these agreements. Our negotiating partners can have confidence in the U.S.’s ability to be able to be held to whatever terms are agreed upon in this agreement – because Congress can’t, in the end, come back and make amendments. They can only say ‘yes’ or ‘no.’”

Without fast-track trade authority, the input of Congress into trade deals is greatly limited which has raised the concern of some lawmakers and the National Farmers Union. They say recent trade deals have been a drain on the U.S. economy.

Tumbarello says U.S. agriculture NEEDS trade deals, “The future is going to be beyond our borders, beyond the U.S. borders. Demand is going to be growing overseas because of the growth in the middle class population and increased demand for meat, milk and eggs is not going to be at home.”

President Obama wants Congress to restore Trade Promotion Authority for the office of the president which expired in 2007.

Tumbarello is a member of the USTR and USDA’s Agricultural Trade Advisory Committee for trade in grains, feed, oil and planting seeds.

AUDIO:  Interview with Gina Tumbarello (5:00 mp3):