FLEISCHWIRTSCHAFT international 6/2018

Fleischwirtschaft international 6_2018
3
Better deals can boost exports
Trade agreements set the course of the global meat industry
Editorial
The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement
for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), also
known as TPP11 or TPP-11,isatrade agreement
between eleven countries. Their combined
economies represent 13.4% of the global gross
domestic product, approximately $13.5 tn. This
makes the CPTPP the third largest free trade
area in the world after the North American Free
Trade Agreement and European Single Market.
It is the successor to the Trans-Pacific Partnership
(TPP), which collapsed following the withdrawal
of the US from the program. In January
2017 US President Donald J. Trump signed an
executive order withdrawing the US from the
TPP agreement, which was signed by officials
from 12 other nations before. This met consternation
in the US agriculture community,which
had been supporting TPP, extolling its potential
benefits for US agricultural exports.
All original TPP signatories, except the US,
agreed in May2017 to revive it and reached agreement
in January 2018 to conclude the CPTPP.
The formal signing ceremony was held on 8
March 2018 in Santiago, Chile. In June and July
2018,Mexico,Japan andSingapore finished their
domestic ratification procedures. These countries
are important export targets for US meat and
need reliable partners to assure their supply with
meat. It seems, that they lost their faith in their
former supplier by the unforseen decision. In
October 2018,NZand Australia followed. These
two countries are the strongest competitors for
US meat in in its leading value markets and saw a
good opportunity to expand their business within
the alliance. End of October and at the beginning
of November Canada and Vietnam joined CPTPP
obviously driven by the prospect of good economic
opportunities.
The US meat industry warned that the US
decision will extend significant tariffrate advantages
to all of their major competitors and especially
pork will soon face significant disadvantages
in its most important export markets. In
addition to that their biggest competitor,the EU,
recently concluded negotiations on afree trade
agreement with Japan which will become effective
next year.Under this circumstances future
does not look bright for US meat exports.
Short time after the withdrawal the US President
announced his interest in possibly rejoining
the TPP if it were a"substantially better
deal" for the US. In April 2018 he told the US
officials to look into joining the new deal. This
was avery surprising step, which surely has not
improved confidence in acalculable partner.
Butnot only the US try to build abetter future for
their agro-industry.InJanuary 2018 the UK government
stated it is exploring becoming amember
of the CPTPP to stimulate exports after Brexit
in March 2019 and has held informal discussions
with the members. The country has an overseas
territory,the Pitcairn Islands, in the Pacific
Ocean. In October 2018 Japan welcomed the UK
joining the partnership post-Brexit. This step
would help UK’s meat industry to find new export
possibilities following headwinds after Brexit.
Both examples clearly show how important
agricultural products are to the economy and
how intensively work is being done to secure the
future of these products.
MichaelWeisenfels
Editor
FLEISCHWIRTSCHAFT
international
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