The American Feed Industry Association is extremely disappointed with President Donald Trump’s executive action to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, stating the agreement would have benefited US pet food makers and others in the food and agriculture sector.
“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,” said AFIA President and CEO Joel G. Newman, in a press release. “While the US economy generally deals with a trade deficit, agriculture is the one segment where our country enjoys a strong trade surplus.”
US pet food and feed industry jobs are created and supported by overseas demand for American products, stated AFIA. Trade agreements, such as TPP, allow US 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 US continue to block opportunities for the US feed industry to capture this demand.
Lost TPP opportunities for pet food trade
“TPP was intended to assist the US in setting a global trade agenda, addressing international competition and combating continued market share losses in the region,” said Newman. “Without TPP, the US 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 US 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 a 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.”
