[CTC] Ag groups largely positive about TPP text

[Susie Chasnoff]

Excellent article from EcoWatch:

http://ecowatch.com/2015/11/05/tpp-text-atttack-food-labeling-laws/

On Thu, Nov 5, 2015 at 8:34 PM, Arthur Stamoulis <arthur at citizenstrade.org>
wrote:

> POLITICO
>
> *Ag groups largely positive about TPP text*
> By Helena Bottemiller Evich and Jenny Hopkinson
>
> 11/05/2015 09:01 PM EDT
>
> The transpacific trade deal released Thursday continues to unfold as a
> goody bag for agriculture interests, including new tools to tackle disputes
> over animal and plant product safety, clearer biotechnology policies and
> better market access for beef and pork.
>
> So far, commodity groups are either praising what they're seeing in the
> agreement's 1,000-plus pages or, at least for now, holding their peace.
>
> "Before the text of the deal was released, most of the ag folks were
> leaning in to a 'yes,' " said House Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike
> Conaway. "[A]t this point I haven't seen any specific push-back from any of
> the ag groups."
>
> With thousands of product tariffs to examine, farm groups are still poring
> over the finalized Trans-Pacific Partnership text. Conaway said he's
> leaning toward voting for the deal when it comes up for congressional
> approval as soon as next spring, but he's consulting with his constituents
> for their take.
>
> However, happiness over the deal isn't universal. The National Farmers
> Union, a group that represents smaller farms, panned the agreement, saying
> it will hurt ranchers because of increased competition from beef imports
> and doesn't include enforcement mechanisms on currency manipulation.
>
> "This agreement has been peddled to farmers and ranchers as a potential
> goldmine for farm exports," NFU President Roger Johnson said in a
> statement. "But as with other trade deals, these benefits are likely to be
> overshadowed by increased competition from abroad, paired with an uneven
> playing field that will not only reduce revenues for farmers and ranchers,
> but will also speed the loss of U.S. jobs."
>
> U.S. rice and dairy
> <http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4a1f3de473abefc14e98776b111719eebc66894becf26c6953e0e3cebec90062>groups
> have long been lukewarm on the deal because of provisions that they say
> hinder full market access for exports. The industries have raised concerns
> about policies that still limit exports to Japan, the world's third-largest
> economy, and dairy groups have taken issue with Canada's refusal to open
> its market fully. The National Milk Producers Federation, U.S. Dairy Export
> Council and USA Rice
> <http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4a1f3de473abefc1399b5767ef6c2f29e8d08fd96efc3d6d5da19e8a08a7c913>,
> as well as the American Farm Bureau Federation, all said Thursday that
> they're waiting to review the agreement before commenting.
>
> U.S. sugar producers, meanwhile, criticized the small increase in sugar
> imports from Australia, and meat groups are worried
> <http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4a1f3de473abefc1170fcd16c2edfeebf981d498736c9b9229064e1a7391af83> that
> opening the United States up to more lamb will hurt domestic producers.
>
> *SPS, friend or foe?*
>
> The sanitary and phytosanitary, or SPS, chapter
> <http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4a1f3de473abefc17ad8c04b7920ef188b1bc706e84ca94d8e8a4fb93aaecb71>,
> which sets new rules aimed at reducing unfair trade barriers raised under
> the guise of safety or pest concerns, is almost universally liked by
> industry groups.
>
> The chapter sets rules requiring countries to base food safety and related
> regulations in science and outlining how to manage risks. It also sets up a
> TPP-specific SPS committee and encourages countries to move toward
> establishing equivalency between one another's regulatory systems.
>
> The chapter allows countries to question each other's import checks to
> make sure requirements are based on real risks. The deal also requires
> nations to notify importers or exporters within seven days if they're
> blocking shipments because of an SPS issue.
>
> If countries disagree about such things as blocked shipments or drug
> residue sampling and can't solve the problem bilaterally through the usual
> channels, then they can use what the chapter calls cooperative technical
> consultations, or CTC - basically a consultation process with related
> agencies to help resolve the dispute. Once an issue is raised, the two
> parties have to meet within 30 days, with the aim of resolving the
> disagreement within 180 days.
>
> The consultation system creates another avenue for arbitration beyond the
> often drawn-out and high-profile dispute-settlement system under the World
> Trade Organization, although the 180-day goal for resolving disputes is
> hardly a quick turnaround.
>
> The additional tools to resolve SPS disputes are of great interest to an
> array of commodity groups, whether pork producers that have struggled with
> ractopamine restrictions, chicken exporters that have gone up against
> Russia's ban on antimicrobial chlorine wash, or produce companies facing
> concerns over pesticides and pests.
>
> Western Growers President Tom Nassif said the SPS chapter was one of the
> most important for the produce industry.
>
> "The effectiveness of new mechanisms TPP provides for producer recourse
> when unfair SPS measures are imposed will be the greatest indication of
> TPP's long-term success for the fresh produce industry," Nassif said in a
> statement Thursday.
>
> The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said in its summary of the
> chapter that it in no way weakens food safety in the U.S.
>
> "On the contrary, it will help TPP partners better ensure the health and
> safety of their food," the agency contends.
>
> Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wis.), a strong supporter of the trade deal, emphasized
> to POLITICO that it goes further than any trade agreement in making sure
> that food-safety standards are based on science - a key point of interest
> for U.S. agricultural exporters.
>
> But consumer groups are railing against the chapter, calling it worse than
> expected -- and they have been slamming the deal for deal for months over
> concerns about what would be in the final text.
>
> Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch, blasted the
> deal, saying it would lead to a "flood of unsafe imported food."
>
> "When the administration says it used the TPP to renegotiate [NAFTA], few
> expected that meant doubling down on the worst job-killing,
> wage-suppressing NAFTA terms, expanding limits on food safety and rolling
> back past reforms on environmental standards and access to affordable
> drugs," she said.
>
> Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) toed a
> similar line, saying the TPP was worse than he thought it would be.
>
> "The agreement would threaten American laws that protect the safety of the
> drugs we take, the seafood we feed our families and the toys our kids play
> with every day," Sanders said in a statement Thursday.
>
> In a 17-page take-down
> <http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4a1f3de473abefc11129cf60699f39874b03e3bc091af387bc83af64b18f823f> of
> the deal, Public Citizen eviscerated the SPS chapter as a threat to the
> very basis of U.S. food-safety protections.
>
> The group takes issue with, among other things, a provision that gives
> companies a right to challenge trade-enforcement actions, including things
> like import alerts, detentions and even lab analyses, which they say
> "second-guesses U.S. inspectors and creates a chilling effect that would
> deter rigorous oversight of imported foods."
>
> Patrick Woodall, research director at Food and Water Watch, said the SPS
> chapter gives the industry just what it wanted, providing "a more powerful
> weapon to use against food-safety rules than the WTO. That's what the
> industry asked for, they wanted stronger, more binding SPS rules to attack
> food-safety regulations they thought were restrictive trade barriers."
>
> Woodall also takes issue with the way the No. 1 objective of the chapter
> is worded: to "protect human, animal or plant life or health in the
> territories of the parties while facilitating and expanding trade by
> [utilizing] a variety of means to address and seek to resolve sanitary and
> phytosanitary issues."
>
> "It really puts the commercial piece on par the food safety piece," he
> said, arguing that the WTO's SPS provisions treat food safety and consumer
> protection with greater importance and make providing a level playing field
> being a secondary objective.
>
> Seafood is one of the biggest concerns for consumer and food-safety
> advocates wary of the lower sanitation and production standards in
> developing countries like Vietnam, a major player in the global aquaculture
> market.
>
> "I'm especially worried about this related to antibiotics and fungicide
> residues on fish from Vietnam or Malaysia," Woodall added. "The U.S.
> position on unapproved antibiotics being illegal [a reason for a large
> portion of import actions against seafood] ... Vietnam could conceivably
> challenge that."
>
> *Biotech*
>
> The TPP marks the first time that biotechnology has been given a mention
> in a trade agreement, something agriculture groups say is an important step
> in harmonizing international approval standards and ensuring market access
> for new products.
>
> The deal calls for countries to try as much as possible to align
> regulations for approving and importing biotech crops and make approval
> documents publicly available. Member countries also have agreed to
> communicate when low levels of unapproved GE crops are detected in imports
> and to work to reduce those occurrences.
>
> While the provisions are largely voluntary, crop groups are optimistic
> that they will help align the countries' rules, set a precedent to address
> biotech issues in future trade deals and put pressure on nearby countries,
> including China, to fall in line with the policies if they want easier
> access to TPP member economies.
>
> "For these 12 member countries, we really are not having a lot of
> challenges with biotechnology, but if you've got another country like China
> that has expressed some interest" in joining the deal, "they will have to
> agree to those principles on biotechnology," Floyd Gaibler, the U.S. Grains
> Council's director of trade policy and biotechnology.
>
> *Increased market access*
>
> Expanding market access remains among the most important outcomes for ag
> groups. The United States is highly efficient at producing food, feed and
> fiber and already exports huge quantities, making it one of the few U.S.
> sectors with a trade surplus.
>
> Dave Warner, spokesman for the National Pork Producers Council, called the
> text a 99.9 percent win for the U.S. pork industry.
>
> Under the agreement, tariff and non-tariff barriers will be eliminated for
> pork products in almost every TPP country, but they will be phased out
> differently depending on the country, Warner said. For Japan - where pork
> is highly sensitive but is the biggest market by value for U.S. pork
> producers - most tariffs will vanish after 10 years.
>
> For Malaysia, tariffs will drop the moment TPP is enacted. And in New
> Zealand, tariffs on hams and shoulders will phase out in three years,
> Warner said.
>
> "No free-trade agreement is perfect, but this is pretty darn close,"
> Warner said. "This is going to be huge for the U.S. pork industry and big
> for the U.S. agriculture economy."
>
> Agriculture commodity groups are largely happy with the deal, at least at
> first glance. The TPP will eliminate the few remaining tariffs in the
> region on things like corn and expand the market for commodities used in
> animal feed and fuel.
>
> "Trade agreements are essential for us ...," Gaibler said. "And I think
> TPP is probably the most comprehensive agreement that we have."
>
> But not all groups are pleased with the outcome.
>
> R-CALF USA President Bill Bullard said TPP would hurt several agricultural
> sectors, one of them being sheep. "Our sheep industry has been absolutely
> decimated by huge volumes of cheaper Australian imports, and because the
> TPP adds New Zealand, which also is a major lamb exporter, the TPP is sure
> to further decimate our commercial sheep industry," he said in a statement.
>
> But by and large, agriculture groups are preparing to make the case to
> lawmakers that, while there may be some problems with the deal, its
> approval will be a boon to farmers.
>
> "We always know this agreement is coming awfully close to presidential
> politics and things like that, so I have to think the grumbling you are
> seeing right now is the posturing they have to do," a corn industry source
> said. "Lawmakers have to ask themselves what's the alternative here if we
> don't do this. What is our world going to look like ...? While not perfect,
> we are a lot better off with this type of agreement in place."
>
> *Adam Behsudi, Chase Purdy and Victoria Guida contributed to this report.*
>
>
>
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