A year to the day after President Trump pulled the United States out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact, the remaining 11 nations, which include Australia, Japan, Canada, and Mexico, completed a free trade agreement of their own. A group representing U.S. wheat growers said that the United States is losing ground in the world market and called on the White House to follow through on its promises of an era of bilateral trade agreements.
“If nothing else, this announcement should serve as a rallying cry for farmers, ranchers, and dairy producers calling for the new trade deals we were promised when the president walked away from TPP,” said Gordon Stoner, president of the National Association of Wheat Growers. “The heat needs to be turned up on the administration and on trade negotiations with Japan. An already stressed agriculture sector needs the benefit of free and fair trade now.”
Under the new deal, which is called the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, Canada and Australia will face lower tariffs on wheat sold to Japan than will U.S. exporters, said the Wheat Growers and the export promotion group U.S. Wheat Associates. Japan is the No. 5 market for U.S. farm exports and buys 3.1 million tonnes of U.S. wheat annually, or one in eight bushels of exported wheat.
The members of the revised TPP “will work towards signing it in early March,” said CNN. “Today is a great day for Canada, but it’s also a great day for progressive trade around the world,” said the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau.
“The new deal is supposed to cut barriers on trade in goods and services between the 11 markets, which make up about 15 percent of the global economy. It also includes rules on environmental and labor standards,” said CNN. “Countries like Japan are eager to use the salvaged Pacific trade deal to counter China’s growing sway.”
At the same time that the revised TPP was announced, negotiations resumed on modernizing NAFTA.