Meat + Poultry - July 2016 - 16

WA S H I N G T O N

Splitting up votes on TPP
The Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement is an
important issue to the meat and poultry industry in the
United States. Unfortunately for the industry, and for a
large number of other business interests in the US, both
presidential candidates, Democratic nominee Hillary
Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump, oppose it
in its current form.
Bill Westman, senior vice president for international
affairs for the North American Meat Institute, says the
meat and poultry industry supports TPP because it will cut
trade barriers and set common standards for more than 40
percent of the global economy.
"It is essential to the stability
and long-term viability of the
US meat and poultry industry by
expanding US beef, pork, lamb
and poultry exports," Westman
says. The TPP trade agreement
would involve the US and 11 other
countries, and is centered in the
Asia-Pacific region of the world.
According to NAMI officials,
by facilitating trade and
investment, as well as reducing
and eliminating tariffs and
non-tariff barriers on US meat,
poultry and animal products in the
The meat
Asia-Pacific region, TPP will yield
and poultry
greater value for US companies
industry
and products. In addition, NAMI
officials believe TPP will support
supports TPP
high-paying American jobs and
because it
will enhance the competitiveness
will cut trade
of the American industry in
foreign markets.
barriers and
The National Chicken Council,
set common
which represents US poultry
standards for
processors and producers,
also supports TPP, according
more than
to President Mike Brown.
40 percent
The poultry producers say
of the global
international trade is particularly
important to them, because while
economy.
Americans prefer white chicken
meat, overseas chicken consumers like the birds' dark
meat, meaning poultry exports are extremely valuable to
the industry here.
One disappointment in TPP, according to Brown, is
that it doesn't do much to increase American poultry's

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MEAT+ POULTRY | 07.16 | www.meatpoultry.com

access to Canadian markets. A goal of TPP was to give
American poultry Canadian access, which it didn't get
during the setup of NAFTA, but so far under the TPP plan,
that's not happening.

OPPOSITION FROM NOMINEES
Clinton initially supported TPP when she was Secretary
of State, but she says she had voted against a previous
trade deal when she was a US Senator from New York.
She said she had waited until the TPP was negotiated
before deciding whether or not to support it, "because I
did want to give the benefit of the doubt to the (Obama)
Administration. Once I saw what the outcome was, I
opposed it," she said. Yet four years ago, she declared the
TPP as "the gold standard."
Now she says she opposes the deal because it doesn't
provide the basic safety net support "that American
workers need in order to be able to compete and win
in the global economy." Trump says he is against TPP
because he feels it is "a back door deal that will help China
totally take advantage of everyone, as they always do." He
believes it would be better to make individual deals with
individual countries.
NAMI's Westman notes TPP is supported by a broad
array of American business and industry, including
the broader agriculture industry, manufacturing,
merchandising, processing, publishing, retailing,
technology, transportation and service industries. The US
Coalition for TPP, of which NAMI is a member, is one of
the principal multi-association groups working to secure
approval of the TPP agreement in the US.
Westman also says that the industry will benefit from
trade with all 11 countries involved, meat and poultry
exports to high-tariff, high-demand markets, like Japan
and Vietnam, will especially be helped. Benefits would
include reduction of import tariffs on American beef, and
a phase-out of tariffs on American exports. TPP will also
strengthen exports of meat industry byproducts, including
hides and skins used to manufacture leather. Last year, 90
percent of hides and skins, the most valuable byproduct of
the industry, were exported to foreign markets.
There are indications that some details of the plan
could be changed to garner more support. The industry
hopes backing can be marshaled in Congress for the trade
partnership, and if so, that the next president will support
the plan. Backers of the plan argue TPP would help the
United States to take leadership in trade in the region,
instead of China.
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Meat + Poultry - July 2016

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