Ag Headlines for Monday, October 24, 2016

Ambassadors Make Case for Lame-Duck TPP Vote

Ambassadors from Mexico, Singapore, and Vietnam stressed the need for the U.S. Congress to vote on the Trans-Pacific Partnership during the upcoming lame-duck session of Congress. The ambassadors took part in a recent event hosted by the National Foreign Trade Council. The trade deal includes the U.S. and other countries that collectively make up 40 percent of the world’s Gross Domestic Product. Singapore’s ambassador said he hopes TPP is ratified and noted there’s no “plan B for the U.S.” He added there’s no chance for an alternative agreement between the U.S. and Singapore, saying “We need to have a U.S. player in the Asia-Pacific region, and all 11 ambassadors from the other countries agree that this is important.” The Vietnamese ambassador is touting the benefits of TPP as well, saying 80 percent of the Vietnam business community is backing the deal. The National Pork Producers Council is one of the many organizations urging members of Congress to vote on TPP during the upcoming lame-duck session after the elections.

Canada-EU Trade Deal All But Dead

A pending trade deal between the European Union and Canada that was once a certainty to be signed is now all but dead in the water. That’s the opinion of the Canadian Trade Minister who left recent talks in Brussels. Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland said the EU was “not capable” of signing a trade deal right now. The deal is known as the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, or CETA. The deal would eventually eliminate 98 percent of the tarriffs between the EU and Canada. It’s near collapsing because a regional parliament in Belgium opposes the deal. The region, called Wallonia, is composed of 3.6 million people. That particular region in Belgium has a strong socialist tradition, saying deals such as this one give too much power to multi-nationals, who may even have the power to intimidate other governments. A BBC dot com report said the small region of Wallonia has all but killed a trade deal that affects 508 million Europeans and 36.3 million Canadians.

Clinton, Trump Campaigns Talk Agriculture

Ag advisers from the Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump campaigns took center stage at a recent forum on American agricultural issues. Ag topics haven’t been front and center in the campaign, so Farm Journal Media and Farm Foundation put together the forum with the goal of highlighting important rural issues. An Ag Web dot Com article said former Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Kathleen Merrigan represented the Clinton campaign. Sam Clovis, the campaign co-chair, represented the Trump campaign. The next Farm Bill was a major topic of discussion, with both campaign representatives saying the Farm Title and Nutrition Title should be kept together. Some of the other topics centered around regulations on agriculture, including the “Waters of the U.S. Rule.” Trade was another hot topic at the forum. Merrigan called for more “detailed discussions because regulations are not a bad thing.” She said regulations give certainty to businesses, level the playing field, and give confidence to the American public. On the other hand, Clovis said regulations impose themselves on smaller enterprises, and “when you write regulations to re-impose regulations, you take away competitive advantages.”

Source;  NAFB News