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Limits of bilateral trade agreements

Darci Vetter speaks at the 2017 NIAA Conference in Columbus Ohio

The Obama administration chief ag negotiator who supported the Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal says bilateral trade agreements have shortcomings.

Darci Vetter says bilateral trade agreements have their limitations, particularly when enforcing food health and safety standards.

“It’s hard to achieve a certainty that if you meet a certain set of standards you’re going to be treated the same in a lot of markets if you’re trying to do that in one-off deals. By getting countries to act as a group you achieve more of that normative value, that rules change in the region,” says Vetter.

She tells Brownfield as the Trump Administration pursues its trade agenda, farmers need to be active in voicing how foreign markets can impact their operations.

“I’m not sure every farmer wakes up every morning thinking ‘I’m an exporter’ but they are. One in three acres that we plant ends up exported. If we didn’t have any place to send them, or we didn’t keep growing those markets as production got better, what would that look like for our economy?” says Vetter.

Vetter spoke to attendees at the Nation Institute for Animal Agriculture’s annual conference in Columbus Ohio.

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