Beef producers need comprehensive TPP deal

Beef producers need comprehensive TPP deal

Beef producers from the four largest beef producing Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) member countries continue to advocate that any TPP agreement must deliver on the 2011 TPP Ministers’ position of eliminating tariffs and other barriers to trade.

Beef producers of Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States, working in a coordinated partnership known as the Five Nations Beef Alliance (FNBA), issued a statement today expressing concern at the possibility that some TPP members may seek to exclude some so-called “sensitive” products from comprehensive, duty free access.

Granting a TPP member any such exclusion would result in other members seeking similar treatment, leading to a decline in the agreement’s level of ambition and the resulting economic growth that it would bring.

The alliance also called for each TPP member to provide equal market access to all other TPP members, including during the transition period, in order to ensure that competitive disadvantages are not created and also to set clear expectations of the level of commitment required from any potential future TPP members.

The beef producers also noted the importance of adopting science-based regulations and incorporating trade facilitative rules of origin in the TPP.

The FNBA comprises the Cattle Council of Australia, Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, Confederacion Nacional de Organizaciones Ganaderas, Beef + Lamb New Zealand and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. Together, FNBA represents producers from countries that account for one-third of global beef production and approximately half of global beef exports.

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