by Tracie McMillan
When President Obama announced the details of the Trans-Pacific Partnership on Thursday — and released them on Medium.com
— there was a lot of talk about labor, the environment and
manufacturing. But trade deals have a way of changing the way we eat,
too. Consider NAFTA, which boosted the
availability of cheap avocados and winter tomatoes for Americans, while
expanding Wal-Mart and processed food in Mexico. So now that we know
the details of this new Pacific Rim trade deal, what might it mean for
dinner — both in the U.S. and the 11 other nations party to the treaty?
Herewith, a cheat sheet on the 2,000-plus-page deal:
The TPP does away with more than 18,000 tariffs in the countries
party to the deal. American producers will gain access to new markets —
and foreign producers will get access to ours. That includes a lot of
food, much of which could become cheaper here, as low-cost imports
intensify competition on price.
Dairy: After
significant battle during negotiations, Canada and New Zealand agreed to
modest tariff reductions on dairy, opening their markets to American
milk and cheese. In return, Americans may see more New Zealand milk — apple bircher "yogurt suckies", anyone? — on shelves.
Pork:
The American pork industry has become a net exporter in the last 20
years, says Nick Giordano, vice president for global government affairs
at the National Pork Producers Council. The TPP will pave the way for
exports to continue to grow. But America also imports a significant
amount of pork. Tariff reductions on imports here could make all that
foreign pork cheaper, and push prices down in the U.S. — but also
potentially threaten the livelihood of hog farmers.
Beef: The agreement doesn't do much for American beef producers, says the National Farmer's Union, because Japan won a provision that would push tariffs back up if imports surged. Smaller beef producers in the U.S. say that increased competition from imports will put more farmers out of business.
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