The chief agricultural negotiator with the U.S. Trade Representative says there’s still time to complete the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement.
Ambassador Darci Vetter says she’s confident Congress will ratify TPP in its lame duck session.
“Congress has everything they need to take the ball forward and to run that voting process in the House and Senate,” she says. “But they need to feel that there’s support for doing that.”
She tells Brownfield it could come down to the last minute for Congress to complete.
But if it isn’t ratified under this administration – Vetter says it won’t happen for quite some time and the world will continue to negotiate trade agreements without the United States.
She says the U.S. will be forced to wait.
“In particular for agriculture our meat, our wine, our dairy industries are seeing their status eroded throughout the Asia-Pacific region as other countries enact trade deals and give each other duty-free status,” she says.
Vetter says that will put U.S. agricultural goods at a competitive disadvantage.
Source: brownfieldagnews.com