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Chief ag trade negotiator holds out for TPP passage this year

The U.S. Trade Representative’s Office is working with Congress in hopes of passing the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal this year.  Chief Agriculture Trade Negotiator Darci Vetter tells Brownfield that urgency is growing, but passage is possible.

“I think there is time to do it this year if you follow the TPA process and the calendar, it’s not too late for us to enact it,” said Vetter during a recent interview with Brownfield Ag News, “and there is a cost of delay.”

With each day that passes before the U.S. approves the TPP, Vetter says other countries are enacting their own trade deals giving each other preferential access to markets.

“So the longer we wait to enact this deal, we lose market share to our key competitors in the world,” said Vetter.

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman says his office is trying to convince lawmakers to support the agreement by explaining what’s in it to benefit their constituents.  Vetter points out, for instance, that without the deal in place, Australian cattlemen have an advantage over U.S. beef producers.

“Every pound of beef from Australia that goes to Japan pays a 10 percent lesser tariff than the beef coming from the United States,” she said.

Vetter and others at the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office are confident in TPP’s chances of passage, however many on Capitol Hill have expressed doubts.

AUDIO: Darci Vetter (2 min. MP3)