ARLINGTON, Virginia — U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) and the National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG) are very happy to learn that President Trump is directing U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer and National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow to begin negotiating for the United States to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
“Putting it simply, joining TPP is the best way to avoid a potentially devastating loss of wheat sales to Japan,” said USW Chairman Michael Miller, a wheat farmer from Ritzville, Wash. “If the United States joins TPP, U.S. wheat should be able to compete on a level playing field with Canadian and Australian wheat, which will soon have a major advantage once TPP is implemented. That would keep U.S. wheat sales that currently represent 50 percent of Japan’s total wheat imports competitive in this crucial market.”
“It is very encouraging that the President is taking this step,” said NAWG President Jimmie Musick, a wheat grower from Sentinel, Okla. “If we can find a way to join this trade agreement, it will go a long way toward helping protect the incomes of every American wheat farmer. We also want to thank the members of Congress who pushed very hard to see this opening.”
USW and NAWG look forward to working with the Administration to provide any information and support it needs to achieve a successful negotiation that brings the United States back into the agreement. While some meat organizations have appealed to the federal government directly to define how technology-enabled developments such as lab-grown cultured meat products should be categorized, legislators in the state of Missouri have moved to take matters into their own, more local hands. Two bills have been introduced in the state House and Senate, each prohibiting “misrepresenting a product as meat that is not derived from harvested production livestock or poultry.” Both versions of the bill have passed their respective committees but have not yet been scheduled for further action. Missouri’s state-level action comes as the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) and the National Farmers Union (NFU) call on USDA to establish labeling requirements that better inform consumers about the difference between products that come from food animals and those that were created in a laboratory. Earlier this year, the United States Cattlemen’s Association (USCA) petitioned USDA on the issue relative to beef.
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