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USGC chair: Anti-trade rhetoric is major concern
Delegates express their opposition to the TPP trade agreement at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times/TNS)
The chairman of the U.S. Grains Council, Alan Tiemann, says the current anti-trade political rhetoric surrounding the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement is a big concern.
“In the political environment we have right now, it’s a major concern, as presidential candidates talk about lack of support for trade,” Tiemann says.
TPP passage is “extremely important” to the feed grains industry and all of agriculture, Tiemann says.
“We cannot let this opportunity pass us by,” he says. “If we miss the opportunity to sign on to TPP with 40 percent of the world’s economy involved in it, they will go ahead and have trade agreements—one-on-one—amongst themselves. And we’ll be left standing in the cold, wondering what happened, as they move forward.”
Tiemann is a farmer from Seward, Nebraska. He spoke with Brownfield from the Grains Council’s annual board of delegates meeting in Louisville, Kentucky.
AUDIO: Alan Tiemann
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