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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=navy face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt;color:navy'>Trans-Pacific Partnership </span>talks
seem to skirt Obama's trade policy goal of doubling exports. The <st1:country-region
w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region> already has FTAs with the four countries (<st1:country-region
w:st="on">Australia</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Singapore</st1:country-region>,
<st1:country-region w:st="on">Chile</st1:country-region> and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Peru</st1:country-region></st1:place>) that comprise <b><span
style='font-weight:bold'>more than 85 percent of the combined 1.6 trillion GDP</span></b>
of countries involved . . . <o:p></o:p></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=navy face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=navy face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:navy'>In other news:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=4 face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";font-weight:bold'>NZ rejects US senators'
claims on dairy trade<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on"><font size=2
face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'>WELLINGTON</span></font></st1:City><font
size=2 face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'>,
<st1:country-region w:st="on">New Zealand</st1:country-region></span></font></st1:place><font
size=2 face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'>
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'>The Associated Press March 21, 2010 <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><a href="http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9EJCQ6G0.htm"><font
size=2 color=black face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:windowtext'>http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9EJCQ6G0.htm</span></font></a></span></font><font
size=2 face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><st1:country-region w:st="on"><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt'>New Zealand</span></font></st1:country-region><span
lang=EN> on Monday hit back at a group of 30 <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region></st1:place> senators who accused the
country's dairy industry of anticompetitive practices, as a first round of
talks ended for a free trade agreement.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
talks are for a deal to expand the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement
between <st1:country-region w:st="on">New Zealand</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region
w:st="on">Brunei</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Chile</st1:country-region>
and <st1:country-region w:st="on">Singapore</st1:country-region> to include the
<st1:country-region w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region
w:st="on">Australia</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Peru</st1:country-region>
and <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Vietnam</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><st1:State w:st="on"><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Idaho</span></font></st1:State><span lang=EN>
senators Mike Crapo and Jim Risch and 28 others wrote to U.S. Trade Representative
Ron Kirk warning <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
dairy producers faced losses of up to $20 billion in the first decade of the
agreement if tariff and other restrictions were fully phased out in the
partnership.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt'>New Zealand</span></font></st1:place></st1:country-region><span
lang=EN> produces just 2 percent of the world's milk, but its dairy
farmer-owned cooperative Fonterra is the world' biggest trader in dairy
products.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt'>"Because
of the anticompetitive practices in <st1:country-region w:st="on">New Zealand</st1:country-region>'s
dairy industry and the extensive degree of control it wields over world dairy
markets to the detriment of the <st1:country-region w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region>
dairy industry, we are deeply concerned that an expansion of U.S.-New Zealand
dairy trade would further open the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region> to these imports," the
senators wrote.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt'>New
Zealand Trade Minister Tim Groser dismissed the letter as just part of the hard
negotiating needed to secure a trade deal.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt'>"The
job in front of us is to get out the facts, frankly, because the facts do not
support the allegations in that letter," he told <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New Zealand</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s
National Radio.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt'>It
was "palpable nonsense" to say Fonterra had created an unfair market,
Groser said, in a reference to the dairy trader being the dominant player in
the domestic dairy industry.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
<st1:country-region w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region> paid subsidies to dairy
farmers but <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New Zealand</st1:place></st1:country-region>
did not, Groser noted.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt'>"It's
a very, very politicized argument, trying to suggest that somehow New Zealand
doesn't play it fair when any person who looked at it objectively would reach
exactly the opposite conclusion," he told the Dominion Post newspaper.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
next round of talks is set for <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Los
Angeles</st1:place></st1:City> in June.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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