Not all ag sectors in Canada are thrilled with the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, known as the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP 11.
Canada’s dairy and chicken producer groups claim the deal will “chip away” at their markets.
Chicken Farmers of Canada says the agreement still includes concessions on market access for chicken products in response to U.S. demands.
AgCanada reports Canada granted those concessions in 2016 coming out of negotiations for the original TPP trade deal, before the U.S. withdrew from the 12-country agreement early last year. With the U.S. out of the partnership, the group said, “those concessions should have been taken off the table.”
A spokesperson for Chicken Farmers of Canada says the nation has “reached the limit” of concessions for any future negotiations, referring to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), adding that if the U.S. wants market access to Canada “they are welcome to rejoin” the TPP 11 agreement.
Dairy Farmers of Canada agreed, calling NAFTA “another vehicle that threatens to weaken the Canadian dairy industry.”
From the National Association of Farm Broadcasting News Service.