Trans-Pacific Partnership
White House takes step toward sending TPP to Congress
The Obama administration “took an important procedural step toward putting the Trans-Pacific Partnership before Congress” by outlining the legislation that would align U.S. law with the 12-nation free-trade agreement, said Agri-Pulse.
Prevent post-election vote on TPP, Sanders asks Democrats
During a speech endorsing Hillary Clinton for president, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders called for Democrats to prevent a congressional vote on the Trans-Pacific Partnership after the November election, the period when farm groups believe the trade pact has its best chance of passage. "We have to be sure that TPP does not get to the floor of Congress during the lame-duck session," said Sanders at the Democratic National Convention.
Democratic platform boosts family farms, stewardship, clean energy
At its presidential convention opening today, the Democratic Party will adopt a platform that vows to support family farms, "provide a focused safety net" and encourage development of clean fuels. "We believe that in order to be effective in keeping our air and water clean and combatting climate change, we must enlist farmers as partners in promoting conservation and stewardship," says the 55-page draft.
GOP: It’s ‘a mistake’ for USDA to run food-stamp program
The Agriculture Department has run the $74-billion-a-year food stamp program since it was created half a century ago — "a mistake," according to the platform approved by delegates at the Republican National Convention. The campaign document says Republicans "will ... separate the administration of [food stamps] from the Department of Agriculture."
Conaway: GOP would help sink TPP if victorious Trump wants it done
If businessman Donald Trump wins the presidency, Republicans would feel obliged to oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, said House Agriculture Committee chairman Michael Conaway. In a Roll Call video, Conaway, who volunteered in May to advise Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee, on agricultural policy, says TPP already faces an uphill struggle for passage, so with Trump's opposition "it would be difficult to get that done."
Obama: ‘The longer we wait, the harder it will be to pass the TPP’
China is trying to outmaneuver the United States in the Asian market, President Obama said, in pressing for approval of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact.
U.S. presses Canada for fairer wheat-grading system
Canada "essentially depresses the entire value" of U.S.-grown wheat that farmers want to sell north of the border, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in criticizing the grading system now in use.
Japan starts TPP ratification drive
The Abe administration in Japan says it will submit 11 bills to the parliament to ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact, reported Feedstuffs.
AFBF chief says low prices mean trying times on the farm
With farm income down sharply since 2013, "farmers are going through a trying time," said Zippy Duvall, the newly elected president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, the largest U.S. farm group. "It is a very difficult time with commodity prices as low as they are."
Japan plans to put technology into agriculture
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party in Japan plans an overhaul of the country's agricultural policy so the farm sector will prosper under the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade pact.
New Farm Bureau president says no to mandatory GMO labels
The largest U.S. farm group supports voluntary rather than mandatory nationwide labeling of GMO foods, said Zippy Duvall, shortly after his election as president of the American Farm Bureau Federation.
Obama to Congress: Pass TPP, end Cuba embargo
The United States can show its leadership in the world and reap benefits for itself through cooperative action, President Obama said in his final State of the Union speech. During the hour-long address, he asked Congress to approve the Trans-Pacific free-trade agreement and to end the half-century trade embargo on Cuba.
After WTO ruling, U.S. lawmakers gallop to repeal COOL
Congress may vote this week to repeal the U.S. law that requires packages of meat to say where the animals were born, raised and slaughtered. The drive for repeal, at a standstill in the Senate since summer, was spurred into action after the WTO said Canada and Mexico could impose $1.01 billion a year in retaliatory tariffs on U.S. manufactured and agricultural goods, from mattresses, office furniture and pipes to wine, meat and grain.
Heavy lobbying by agribusiness for TPP
The proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, covering 12 Pacific Rim nations with 40 percent of the world economy, "has drawn heavy lobbying from some of America's largest agribusinesses," says the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting.
TPP won’t stop Canadian retaliation over U.S. meat labeling
Groups representing Canada’s hog and cattle producers say the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement "will not prevent Canada from introducing retaliatory tariffs on American goods over the country-of-origin labelling dispute," reports Western Producer.
White House releases TPP text, critics pounce
The White House faced immediate criticism with its release of the text of the proposed 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement.
Japan is biggest TPP prize for California agriculture
Like U.S. agriculture overall, 40 percent of California's agricultural exports go to nations that are part of the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade bloc, say three UC-Davis economists. In a newsletter, they say the agreement, if approved, "would lower import barriers and facilitate export for many of California's significant agricultural exports to the Pacific Rim nations - most importantly in Japan."
Liberal victory in Canada: ‘TPP has been preserved’
The Liberal Party won an outright majority with 54 percent of the seats in Canada's House of Commons, routing the Conservatives who had been in power for nearly a decade. At Western Producer, columnist Ed White says, "There’s one big, positive take-home for Canadian farmers: TPP has been preserved."