A former foreign trade negotiator says the United States will have no choice but to consider approving the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal. Andrew Robb led Australia’s negotiations when the trade deal’s 12 member nations were crafting the agreement. He told the Australian Business Review publication this week that the United States “will have no choice” but to reconsider TPP, even if it takes three years. Robb says the U.S. would be the biggest beneficiary from TPP if it was resurrected. Some of the advantages Australia has achieved in bilateral deals, such as with Japan over beef imports, “are just going to get wider and wider apart from the U.S., to their disadvantage,” according to Robb. He says pressure from the U.S. cattle industry will build due to a 13 percent tariff differential in Australia’s favor in a billion-dollar market, being Japan.
From the National Association of Farm Broadcasting news service.