TPP and Dairy
Richard Harman at Politik writes:
Prime Minister John Key has confirmed that New Zealand has yet to see any major concessions on dairy exports to Japan and Canada from the Trans Pacific Partnership trade agreement negotiations.
That’s because both Japan and Canada, the negotiating countries with the highest barriers against dairy imports have yet to begin the “hard” part of their negotiations.
But it leaves a huge hole in the negotiations which Mr Key admits is not what New Zealand wants. …
Speaking at his weekly post Cabinet Press Conference, the prime Minister described the situation in Washington as “a game of chess” between the Senate and the House.
He said there was a deal on dairy products “but it’s not at the level we would currently like.
“There are more negotiations to be undertaken”
Asked what advantages New Zealand would gain, if the dairy agreement could not be reached he said: “What I’ve seen at the moment is if we froze time and concluded the deal, as I see it it’s a net positive for New Zealand.
“But it wouldn’t be nearly enough for dairy for us to be comfortable and we’d like to see more.”
The TPP was meant to be a gold standard trade agreement. It won’t be that if there is no meaningful dairy access.