Yesterday, U.S. trade negotiators announced that an agreement had been reached with 11 Pacific Rim nations on the Tran Pacific Partnership (TPP), a trade deal expected to increase market opportunities for agricultural products, including specialty crops. Western Growers’ president and CEO Tom Nassif, issued a statement to the media congratulating negotiators for reaching the deal.

Nassif’s statement read as follows:

“Western Growers would like to congratulate U.S. negotiators and their TPP counterparts on their tireless efforts in reaching a deal that promotes enhanced trade between the Pacific Rim nations. We look forward to reviewing the final text of the recently completed agreement, which is critical for the U.S. fresh produce industry as the TPP countries represent more than 46 percent of our fruit, vegetable and tree nut exports. Additionally, this agreement provides a framework for additional countries in the Pacific Rim to join in the future, which will create further opportunity for our commodities.

Western Growers has emphasized throughout the negotiations the need for a TPP agreement to provide significant market access opportunities and strong Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) enforcement provisions that guarantee real access to these critical markets. We hope to find these objectives have been accomplished.”

Since the final language has yet to be seen and is not expected to be available for some time, most organizations who issued statements were cautiously optimistic in their support for the deal. According to a Washington Post story, by law, “(President) Obama “must wait at least 90 days after notifying Congress of the deal before he can sign it and send it to Capitol Hill, and the full text of the agreement must be made public for at least 60 of those days.” The 90-day clock starts ticking later this week.  Congress has 30 days to review the agreement before it goes public. In the meantime, the International Trade Commission has 105 days to conduct a full economic review of the deal.  

For more information, contact Cory Lunde at (949) 885-2264.