Feed Industry Pleased With Progress of Free Trade Agreements

The American Feed Industry Association (AFIA) is pleased the White House has formally submitted to Congress the implementing bills for the three pending Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with Panama, Colombia and South Korea. Increasing export opportunities is a top priority for the U.S. feed industry, and AFIA strongly urges Congress to approve all three agreements at the earliest opportunity.  

“International trade is increasingly important to the agriculture industry, and while we recognize the President is committed to the U.S. trade agenda, the country will only remain competitive through additional agreements like these with Colombia, Panama and the Republic of Korea. This is the only way to expand market opportunities and ensure a level playing field within the international market,” stated Newman.

AFIA is a member in a coalition of food and agricultural organizations in support of passage of the FTAs. If the Korea – U.S. Free Trade Agreement is rejected, the U.S. will continue to lose market share to other countries who have implemented their own FTAs with Korea, such as the European Union (EU), whose FTA went into effect July 1, 2011. Colombia has implemented agreements with Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, and most recently with Canada (which went into effect August 15, 2011) and the EU (which goes into effect in 2012).