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US, Japan, Canada standoff in Pacific trade deal on dairy
CONCESSIONS have to be made on dairy trade by the United States, Canada and Japan before a wider Pacific trade deal can be wrapped up, according to a farmer who represents the interests of New Zealand agriculture, Mike Petersen, who said the dairy part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations was at an impasse.
During this week's four-day meeting in Hawaii, TPP ministers hope to wrap up the 12-nation deal, which would cut tariffs and set common ground on issues such as environmental standards and intellectual property protections for 40 per cent of the world economy, Reuters reports.
"It's like a set of dominos, we are waiting for one country to effectively make a move and that will trigger a whole lot of other things for other countries in the talks," he explained.
"The level of ambition for the dairy part of these talks is just not where we need it to be, and so we need some real movement over the next few days if we are going to get these talks concluded.
"We have got to see movement with Canada and the USA, Japan and New Zealand and Australia in particular, that's where the dairy things lie," Mr Petersen said.
One TPP diplomat said countries were closing out issues of less importance, which boded well for reaching agreement on more contested issues this week.
While New Zealand and Australia are pressing for more dairy exports to US, Canadian and Japanese markets, US milk producers are eyeing more access to Japan and Canada to make up for any extra imports into the United States from countries such as New Zealand.
US Dairy Export Council vice president Jaime Castaneda said the US industry was prepared to match other countries in cutting tariffs. "Once Canada makes a credible market access offer, all the other pieces will fall into place," he said.
During this week's four-day meeting in Hawaii, TPP ministers hope to wrap up the 12-nation deal, which would cut tariffs and set common ground on issues such as environmental standards and intellectual property protections for 40 per cent of the world economy, Reuters reports.
"It's like a set of dominos, we are waiting for one country to effectively make a move and that will trigger a whole lot of other things for other countries in the talks," he explained.
"The level of ambition for the dairy part of these talks is just not where we need it to be, and so we need some real movement over the next few days if we are going to get these talks concluded.
"We have got to see movement with Canada and the USA, Japan and New Zealand and Australia in particular, that's where the dairy things lie," Mr Petersen said.
One TPP diplomat said countries were closing out issues of less importance, which boded well for reaching agreement on more contested issues this week.
While New Zealand and Australia are pressing for more dairy exports to US, Canadian and Japanese markets, US milk producers are eyeing more access to Japan and Canada to make up for any extra imports into the United States from countries such as New Zealand.
US Dairy Export Council vice president Jaime Castaneda said the US industry was prepared to match other countries in cutting tariffs. "Once Canada makes a credible market access offer, all the other pieces will fall into place," he said.
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