Special Report

Still time to get TPP completed

Chief agricultural negotiator Darci Vetter says the clock is ticking on getting the Trans Pacific Partnership passed, but she’s confident it can get completed.

She says they’re working to educate members on an individual basis about the importance of the TPP to agriculture and clearing up any concerns members of Congress would have before the implementing bill.  “Once that implementing bill goes forward, we’ll follow that Trade Promotion Authority timeline that would allow for quick consideration on a up or down vote,” she says.  “We’re quite hopeful as we work with them that there’s still plenty of time to do that this year in a lame duck session.”

Vetter tells Brownfield every day the TPP is delayed the US loses market share and profits.  “Other countries have negotiated and implemented deals while we were working on TPP,” she says.  “They continue to do that.  Since we started the TPP negotiations Japan and Australia have implemented their deal where every day now a pound of beef going from Australia and Japan pays a 10 percent less tariff than that same pound of beef coming from the US.”

AUDIO: Darci Vetter, USTR