Administration may get back on TPP

After bowing out of negotiations for the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal last year, the Trump administration announced its intention to get back into talks.

On April 10, President Trump directed U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow to begin negotiating for the United States to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

The deal is now known as the CTPP, signed by the remaining 11 nations in March. It contains tariff breaks for the participants, including a cut in tariffs from $150 per metric ton to $85 on Canadian and Australian wheat going to Japan. The U.S., for which Japan is a top export market, will see its $150 tariff remain the same. As of now, Japan imports 50 percent of its wheat from the U.S.

“Putting it simply, joining (CP)TPP is the best way to avoid a potentially devastating loss of wheat sales to Japan,” said U.S. Wheat Associates’ Chairman Michael Miller, a farmer from Ritzville. “If the United States joins (CP)TPP, U.S. wheat should be able to compete on a level playing field with Canadian and Australian wheat.”

Bailey notes another potential advantage in this.

“If the U.S. could get into the (CP)TPP, that could be an economic group that can get China’s attention,” he said.

What does Bailey think of Cathy McMorris Rodgers in all of this?

“She has listened and advocated for wheat farmers quite well,” Bailey said. “She’s been in close communication with the wheat industry all along ... helping us tell the story.”