AFBF: Without TPP U.S. Must Work On Bilateral Deals

The American Farm Bureau’s trade adviser says now that a TPP has been finalized, and the U.S. is on the outside looking in, D.C. has little choice but to look for other trade deal partners in the Asia-Pacific, which is not the ideal situation.  Canada’s Prime Minister announced last week that his country had finalized its own TPP with 10-nations in the Asia-Pacific region.  So where does that leave U.S. producers and others who stood to gain from the multi-lateral agreement?

“So going into the future, if for some reason down the road, something we would want to have happen, the door is still open for the U.S. to rejoin,” said AFBF trade adviser Dave Salmonsen.

Now the U.S. faces competition for bilateral deals from other suitors.

“You’ve got EU working on a deal with Japan, so, no, we probably aren’t going to be in the same position, but we have to do what we can to salvage, of course TPP would have taken its time to get ratified and implemented also,” Salmonsen added

Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue and President Trump argue the U.S. can still get better deals through bilateral efforts.  Some trade experts disagree and argue doing so does not win the kind of collective benefits that regional, multi-lateral deals achieve.

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