<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
<meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 15 (filtered medium)">
<style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Wingdings;
panose-1:5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:inherit;
panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:#0563C1;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:#954F72;
text-decoration:underline;}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-compose;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
color:windowtext;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
/* List Definitions */
@list l0
{mso-list-id:1453136935;
mso-list-template-ids:1976575182;}
@list l0:level1
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:\F0B7;
mso-level-tab-stop:.5in;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Symbol;}
@list l0:level2
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:o;
mso-level-tab-stop:1.0in;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Courier New";
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
@list l0:level3
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:\F0A7;
mso-level-tab-stop:1.5in;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Wingdings;}
@list l0:level4
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:\F0A7;
mso-level-tab-stop:2.0in;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Wingdings;}
@list l0:level5
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:\F0A7;
mso-level-tab-stop:2.5in;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Wingdings;}
@list l0:level6
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:\F0A7;
mso-level-tab-stop:3.0in;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Wingdings;}
@list l0:level7
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:\F0A7;
mso-level-tab-stop:3.5in;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Wingdings;}
@list l0:level8
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:\F0A7;
mso-level-tab-stop:4.0in;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Wingdings;}
@list l0:level9
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:\F0A7;
mso-level-tab-stop:4.5in;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Wingdings;}
@list l1
{mso-list-id:2039502215;
mso-list-template-ids:-1399568872;}
@list l1:level1
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:\F0B7;
mso-level-tab-stop:.5in;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Symbol;}
@list l1:level2
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:o;
mso-level-tab-stop:1.0in;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Courier New";
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
@list l1:level3
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:\F0A7;
mso-level-tab-stop:1.5in;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Wingdings;}
@list l1:level4
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:\F0A7;
mso-level-tab-stop:2.0in;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Wingdings;}
@list l1:level5
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:\F0A7;
mso-level-tab-stop:2.5in;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Wingdings;}
@list l1:level6
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:\F0A7;
mso-level-tab-stop:3.0in;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Wingdings;}
@list l1:level7
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:\F0A7;
mso-level-tab-stop:3.5in;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Wingdings;}
@list l1:level8
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:\F0A7;
mso-level-tab-stop:4.0in;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Wingdings;}
@list l1:level9
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:\F0A7;
mso-level-tab-stop:4.5in;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Wingdings;}
ol
{margin-bottom:0in;}
ul
{margin-bottom:0in;}
--></style><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]-->
</head>
<body lang="EN-US" link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72">
<div class="WordSection1">
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:#115F85">Vilsack Promotes Trade Pact With Eye on Farm-State Republicans<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:#999999">By Ellyn Ferguson, CQ Roll Call<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:#999999"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:#999999"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:7.5pt"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"inherit",serif">The just-completed Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement is a good deal for farmers, ranchers and agribusiness, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack
said Tuesday as the Obama administration began making its case for the deal by focusing on an industry with ties to farm-state Republicans.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:7.5pt"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"inherit",serif">President
<a href="http://www.cq.com/person/7612"><b><span style="color:#115F85;text-decoration:none">Barack Obama</span></b></a> joined the courtship of agriculture with a visit Tuesday to the Agriculture Department, where he focused on what he sees as the benefits
of TPP for agriculture and other segments of the U.S. economy. The farm-state Republicans may be crucial to getting the agreement through Congress.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:7.5pt"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"inherit",serif">“The bottom line is virtually every commodity group will see tariff eliminations and or reductions and or expanded preferential [market] access
for American agricultural products,” Vilsack told reporters in a conference call.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:7.5pt"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"inherit",serif">“It is key and critical for us to make sure that full and complete understandings of the benefits of this agreement are well understood and
appreciated by those in Congress,” he added. “If they are concerned about agriculture, they will see this is a net benefit for agriculture.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:7.5pt"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"inherit",serif">Vilsack said the agreement also contains provisions to protect against “other countries basically dumping products into the U.S.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:7.5pt"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"inherit",serif">North Carolina Sens.
<a href="http://www.cq.com/person/293"><b><span style="color:#115F85;text-decoration:none">Richard M. Burr</span></b></a> and
<a href="http://www.cq.com/person/52953"><b><span style="color:#115F85;text-decoration:none">Thom Tillis</span></b></a>, both Republicans, say they are angry about TPP language that prevents U.S. tobacco companies from using a private arbitration product to
seek damages from TPP members because of their anti-smoking policies.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:7.5pt"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"inherit",serif">Burr, who voted for the fast-track authority that gave the president the parameters for negotiating TPP, said he would be ready “in a heartbeat”
to vote against the trade agreement if the administration doesn’t renegotiate the provision.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:7.5pt"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"inherit",serif">Vilsack said tobacco growers should focus on the elimination of tobacco tariffs in Japan, Malaysia and Vietnam rather than on public health
issues. TPP recognizes that countries have the authority to set those policies just as the United States has done, he said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:7.5pt"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"inherit",serif">Vilsack and the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office offered a few details Tuesday on the 12-nation trade agreement, the text of which should
be ready in 30 days:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:0in;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">
<![if !supportLists]><span lang="EN" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span></span><![endif]><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"inherit",serif">The United States will be able to contest phytosanitary and sanitary rules on plant and animal diseases and pests if they appear to be trade barriers with no
scientific or risk-based grounds.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:0in;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">
<![if !supportLists]><span lang="EN" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span></span><![endif]><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"inherit",serif">U.S. dairy exporters will have the right to challenge the use of geographic indications for products in a TPP nation that could restrict sales.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:0in;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">
<![if !supportLists]><span lang="EN" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span></span><![endif]><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"inherit",serif">Beef producers will see Japanese tariffs on their goods decrease from 38.5 percent to 9 percent over the next 15 years.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:0in;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">
<![if !supportLists]><span lang="EN" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span></span><![endif]><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"inherit",serif">Pork producers will see 80 percent of Japanese tariffs eliminated within 11 years.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:0in;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">
<![if !supportLists]><span lang="EN" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span></span><![endif]><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"inherit",serif">Kentucky distillers will see tariffs as high as 55 percent reduced in TPP member nations.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:0in;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">
<![if !supportLists]><span lang="EN" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span></span><![endif]><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"inherit",serif">American dairy producers will have greater access to Canada despite its supply management policies designed to protect domestic producers by limiting imports.
Japan, which also has limited U.S. dairy imports, would reduce its cheese tariff by 40 percent.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:7.5pt"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"inherit",serif">“Over the course of the next 10 years between Canada and Japan, which are the two areas that we focused on . . . there’s going to be additional
access particularly in cheese, in whole milk powder, in skim milk powder, in fluid milk,” Vilsack said, adding that he expected more exports of non-traditional dairy products such as yogurt to Canada.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Mark W. Harrison<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Director, Peace with Justice Program<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">United Methodist General Board of Church and Society<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
</body>
</html>