US Agricultural Export Benefits Under TPP to Be Most Pronounced With Non-FTA Partners, CRS Says
The greatest potential for expanded U.S. agricultural exports under the Trans-Pacific Partnership lies in shipments to Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and New Zealand, as the U.S. doesn’t have current free trade agreements with these partners, the Congressional Research Service said…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
in an Aug. 30 report on TPP’s effect on the U.S. agriculture sector (here). For example, TPP would reduce Japan’s tariff on U.S. fresh, chilled and frozen beef cuts from 38.5 percent to 27.5 percent after the agreement enters into force, decreasing to 9 percent 15 years after ratification, which would make U.S. beef tariff treatment comparable to Japan’s treatment of Australian beef, a major competitor of U.S. beef in the country. The potential for greater U.S. agricultural exports is linked to the U.S.’s TPP pledge to eliminate and lower tariffs on several agricultural imports, including tree nuts, peanuts, cotton, fruits, tobacco and wine, from TPP member nations, and to additional duty-free access the U.S. plans to provide through new tariff-rate quotas for dairy products and sugar and sugar-containing products, CRS said. Moreover, the comparative value of tariff benefits granted through NAFTA would decline as TPP tariffs fall, CRS said. Although many U.S. agricultural organizations support TPP, certain unions have expressed opposition, the report said.