Discussing trade issues at the International Dairy Foods Association Dairy Forum today are, from left: Darci Vetter, chief U.S. agricultural trade negotiator, John Dardis, agricultural attache at the Irish Embassy in Washington; Kenneth Smith Ramos, head of the trade and NAFTA office at the Mexican Embassy in Washington, and moderator Bill Reinsch, president of the National Foreign Trade Council. (Jerry Hagstrom/The Hagstrom Report)


BOCA RATON, Fla. — The United States is continuing to put pressure on Canada to put forward a more robust proposal in the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade negotiations, Darci Vetter, the chief U.S. agricultural trade negotiator said here today at the International Dairy Foods Association’s annual Dairy Forum.

“All eyes right now are on Canada,” Vetter said as part of a panel discussion. “They really need to bring something more comprehensive to the table.”

Vetter acknowledged that the negotiations over dairy, poultry eggs are “very politically controversial for Canada,” but she said the United States still expects Canada to come forward with a proposal that provides “comprehensive access to their market.”

The United States has been in “intensive discussions” with Japan, Vetter said, but a day after meat groups that have been concerned about Japan’s willingness to negotiate said they would support granting President Barack Obama trade promotion authority, she signaled that Canada at this point is the problem in the negotiations.

Japan’s imports of U.S. dairy products have grown steadily, Vetter said, but there are still barriers “that shouldn’t be there.”

The United States is third in dairy exports to Japan, after New Zealand and Australia, and Australia has a bilateral agreement with Japan that went into force on January 15, she added.

Asked if she thought the United States would throw out Canada, Vetter said, “Canada will have to decide what it will come forward to do. What we expect is that Canada will join us at the table.”

Bill Reinsch of the National Foreign Trade Council, who moderated the panel, said he believes Canada has been hiding behind Japan, but that Canada cannot continue that position as the negotiations reach a conclusion.

TPP chief negotiators are meeting in New York City this week to try to narrow down those issues that must be brought up at the ministerial level, Vetter said, adding that that with the snow in New York they will have “no reason to leave the hotel. This is crunch time.”

Vetter also said the Obama administration is “encouraged by conversations with Congress” about trade promotion authority, and was pleased by the announcement that bills to grant Obama TPA will be introduced in February.

Asked about the possible addition of other countries, Vetter said, “In the short term we are focused on finishing TPP with the 12 countries around the table.”

She noted that the United States regards TPP as “a living agreement,” and that any countries that join later would have to agree to follow what the original 12 have agreed to.

Kenneth Smith Ramos, head of the trade and NAFTA office of the Mexican Embassy in Washington, said that Mexico regards the TPP negotiations as “the most important negotiation in the world right now” and “a way to upgrade NATFA.”

Mexico, he said, sees TPP “as a way to consolidate trade with free trade agreement partners and to make inroads into the Asia-Pacific.”

The North American countries should form a bloc that can compete with Australia and New Zealand in dairy, he said.

Vetter said that the TTIP negotiations with the European Union are “not as advanced.”

“We frankly have a little bit of work to do in the ag relationship with Europe,” she said.

U.S. agriculture exports to Europe have increased slowly and market share has dropped, Vetter said. EU tariffs are at 30 percent compared with 12 percent in the United States, but there are also many other barriers, she noted.

John Dardis, the agriculture attaché at the Irish Embassy, said “Everybody has offensive and defensive positions, and everyone is in a position of creating noise around certain positions.”

Some analysts have said Europe needs TTIP, but Dardis views the proposed agreement as a long-term matter that “makes sense to citizens on both sides of the Atlantic.”

Irish agriculture has changed a lot since the potato famine of the 19th century and the highly-regulated postwar agriculture sector, Dardis noted.

“Once upon a time we were hungry,” Dardis said, noting that Ireland once exported people and now exports food.

“Now to look at the people we feed is an incredible achievement.”

The European Union’s international competitiveness has come about because the EU Common Agricultural Policy moved to a decoupled payment, he said.

The U.S. decision to allow Irish beef to enter the United States beginning in February “came about through dialogue,” Dardis said.

Geographic indicators are an issue for the European Commission to handle, he said, and are of more interest to other EU member states than to Ireland, Dardis said. But he also defended GIs, saying “they are our approach to trademarks.”

Dardis said there are GI precedents in the EU-Canadian free trade agreement, but Vetter said the United States does not consider the EU-Canadian agreement “to be a model for the way it treated GIs.”

Dardis acknowledged that there is opposition to TTIP in Europe but said the European Commission is working hard to “respect citizens and what they want and what industry wants” by putting out more information.

Reinsch suggested that opposition to TTIP in the United States has been less so far because U.S. groups are focused on opposing TPP.