The American Feed Industry Association is extremely disappointed with President Donald Trump's executive action today to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement.
"TPP, and agreements like it, are key to setting the terms and rules for future trade relationships, creating higher standards and expectations than previous trade deals. While the U.S. economy generally deals with a trade deficit, agriculture is the one segment where our country enjoys a strong trade surplus," said AFIA President and CEO Joel G. Newman.
U.S. agriculture exports, including commercial feed, are increasing despite a global slowdown in overall trade. U.S. feed industry jobs are created and supported by overseas demand for American products. Trade agreements, such as TPP, allow U.S. producers to exploit growing overseas demand. Much of this growing demand is in the Asia-Pacific region, but mounting competition and new trade agreements within that region that exclude the U.S. continue to block opportunities for the U.S. feed industry to capture this demand.
"TPP was intended to assist the U.S. in setting a global trade agenda, addressing international competition and combating continued market share losses in the region," said Newman. "Without TPP, the U.S. feed industry will lose more than the opportunities provided by tariff reductions. We will lose the opportunity to facilitate new trade relationships by addressing larger sanitary and phytosanitary issues, environmental protections, domestic job creation and regulatory cooperation.
"As President Trump further assesses U.S. trade relations in the Pacific Rim and any potential trade agreements going forward, we hope components of TPP beneficial to our industry will be preserved. Our industry is proud of its ability to create safe, innovative feed, feed ingredients and pet food supply for the world, and looks forward to working with the new administration to advance our economic interests in this critical region."
