Meat trade groups press for TPA renewal

A handful of the largest meat producer trade associations in the United States urged Congress to renew the White House’s trade promotion authority.    A handful of the largest meat producer trade associations in the United States urged Congress to renew the White House’s trade promotion authority.
   TPA allows the president and his trade negotiators to strengthen their position when it comes to negotiating foreign trade agreements. The trade groups say TPA is crucial with continued negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a multilateral trade agreement between the United States, Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.
   “The U.S. pork industry is the poster child for expanded trade,” said National Pork Producers Council President Howard Hill in a statement Monday. “As a result of trade agreements, our exports have increased 1,550 percent in value and 1,268 percent in volume since 1989, the year the U.S. implemented the FTA with Canada and started opening international markets for value-added agriculture products. 
   “Pork producers and U.S. agriculture are dependent on export markets, so NPPC is going to fight tooth and nail to get TPA passed,” Hill said.
   TPA defines U.S. negotiating objectives and priorities for trade agreements and establishes requirements for the president to follow throughout the negotiation process. Once trade negotiators finalize a deal, Congress gets an up or down vote – without amendments – on it. Congress has granted TPA to every president since 1974, with the most recent law being approved in August 2002 and expiring June 30, 2007.
   The other meat trade groups pressing for TPA’s renewal include the National Chicken Council, National Turkey Federation and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.
   “With 20 percent of our production being exported to more than 100 countries, outside-the-border customers are becoming more and more important, especially for our dark meat parts,” said Mike Brown, president of the National Chicken Council.
   The council estimates that chicken meat and paw exports accounted for about $5 billion in 2014.
   “The governments of many of our competitors are actively engaged in negotiating trade agreements with growing consumer markets around the world,” warned Bob McCan, president of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. “Unless the United States takes a similar aggressive approach to secure free trade agreements, we will lose market share; not due to the quality of our products, but because our products will be more expensive due to import tariffs.”
   “It is no surprise that agricultural producers are joining the chorus of voices calling on Congress to renew Trade Promotion Authority,” said U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in a statement. “The past six years were the strongest period for agricultural exports in the history of our nation, despite the fact that many other countries’ markets are not as open to American products as our markets are to theirs. New trade agreements that help level the playing field for agriculture will build on the success we’ve seen in the agricultural economy since 2009 and help producers create more new jobs across the country.”
   According to USDA, fiscal years 2009-2014 represented the strongest six years in U.S. agricultural trade history, with these exports reaching $771.7 billion. Agricultural exports last fiscal year totaled $152.5 billion, the highest level on record.