“The Trans-Pacific Partnership will have significant benefits for exports of corn in all forms”, said Alan Tiemann, chairman of the U.S. Grains Council and a farmer from Seward, Nebraska.
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“It’s worse than we thought”, Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch, said after examining the full text of the pact, which was unveiled early Thursday. “I look forward to working with my Senate colleagues and stakeholders throughout this process to determine whether this TPP agreement meets the high-standards set by TPA and whether it should be enacted into law”. The text details plans for handling of trade of all types of materials including live eels.
The nation’s commerce and investment minister Andrew Robb said the release of the text to the people honoured a commitment from all participant states to take action before it was formally signed.
The deal also stresses each country’s “right to protect public health and, in particular, to promote access to medicines for all”.
But USA lawmakers have questioned whether it will help exports and create jobs or just expose more American workers to low-wage competition, giving multinational corporations excessive power. The National Pork Producers Council quickly pledged strong support to the trade deal and urges Congress to act quickly. “That’s why NCGA members will be going to Capitol Hill and asking Congress to vote in favor of the TPP agreement”.
U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman repeated a call on Congress to quickly endorse the TPP, saying in a statement, “The ultimate decision as to whether the United States leads on trade remains with America’s elected representatives”. “Without the USA, the TPP will not take effect”.
Apart from the US, Japan and Mexico, countries in the trade pact are New Zealand, Australia, Chile, Peru, Canada, Brunei, Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia.
Obama faces fierce resistance to the deal from within his own Democratic Party.
He expects it to be signed by the 12 countries and then ratified a few time in the first half of 2016. Several candidates, including Democrats Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, and Republican Donald Trump, have come out strongly against the TPP. So I want to tell you a little bit about what makes this trade agreement so different, and so important.
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Greens leader Richard Di Natale said the fact the agreement is silent on climate change is a serious flaw.
