	Introduction

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a regional free trade agreement (FTA) among 12 Pacific-facing nations—Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States, and Vietnam—that was concluded in October 2015. The TPP agreement is pending congressional approval, which is required for it to enter into force. TPP seeks to liberalize trade across a vast range of goods and services, including agricultural products. TPP countries already loom large in U.S. farm and food trade: Between 2011 and 2015, U.S. agricultural exports to these countries averaged $63.5 billion, or 42% of total exports, while TPP countries were the source for $60.9 billion in U.S. agricultural imports, amounting to about 47% of the U.S. total. This is followed by a partial snapshot of some of the higher-profile changes in market access for agricultural products in the agreement, a summary of selected provisions beyond market access that are of particular interest to stakeholders in food and agriculture, a brief overview of industry reactions to the agreement, and a review of what actions need to occur for the agreement to enter into force for the United States. With a combined population of roughly 250 million, these three countries likely offer the greatest potential for boosting U.S. farm and food exports via lower tariffs, or expanded tariff rate quotas (TRQs). At the same time, preferential access that U.S. food and agricultural interests have to markets in Canada and Mexico under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) would become available to a wider group of potential competitors over time as tariffs are lowered within the TPP zone. Also significant is that potential key export expansion opportunities for U.S. food and agricultural interests, such as beef and pork to Japan and dairy products to Japan, Canada, and Vietnam, generally are to be phased in over a period of years, if not decades. As an example, Australia already enjoys preferential tariffs rates on its beef exports to Japan compared with the tariff rates imposed on U.S. beef. TPP would place U.S. beef on an even footing with Australian product in Japan. It concluded that TPP would boost U.S. farm income by $4.4 billion per year once it is fully implemented compared with a second scenario it modeled under which the United States does not implement TPP and the 11 remaining signatories ratify an equivalent agreement. Under the TPP agreement, Japan would drop its current tariff on fresh, chilled, and frozen beef from 38.5% to 27.5% in year one, with subsequent annual reductions to 9% by year 16. Japan also would establish a new duty-free, country-specific quota (CSQ) exclusively for U.S. wheat of 114,000 metric tons (equal to about 0.5% of U.S. wheat exports in the 2014/2015 marketing year), which would be increased to 150,000 tons in seven years and which also would be subject to the same progressively lower markup price. It also would create new duty-free CSQs for imports of U.S. unroasted and roasted malt. Sugar : The United States would expand access to its market for sugar incrementally by establishing new TRQs for sugar and sugar-containing products totaling 86,300 tons annually. Japan would provide new TRQs that would expand access to its market for sugar and sweetener-related processed products on a duty-free, or preferential-tariff-rate basis, including chewing gum, chocolates and products containing chocolate, confectionery goods and other such products, and would eliminate tariffs on various sweetener products over time. In its report on the likely effects of the TPP agreement on the U.S. economy and specific sectors, including agriculture, ITC specifically cites new provisions in the areas of sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS), technical barriers to trade (TBT), and biotechnology as being among the beneficial elements in the agreement for U.S. agriculture. Among the non-tariff measures the TPP seeks to address are sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS), which consist of actions that address issues of food safety, plant pests, and animal diseases. Export Disciplines

On the topic of agricultural export programs, signatories to the agreement commit to eliminate the use of export subsidies, a type of incentive the United States does not employ in any case. In essence, the agreement establishes parameters for labeling and certification of products, including what information is permitted on the label and terms that may not be excluded, such as "chateau," "reserve," and others, while seeking to preserve the ability of government regulators to protect consumers. It also objected to the product-specific exception to recourse to dispute settlement that can be applied to tobacco products. Selected Agricultural and Food-Related Groups Opposed to TPP

Groups that have expressed opposition to TPP include the Burley Tobacco Growers Cooperative Association, the National Farmers Union, R-CALF USA, the U.S. Rice Producers Association, and the United Food and Commercial Workers Union International (UFCW).
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a regional free trade agreement (FTA), which the United States concluded with 11 other Pacific-facing nations in October 2015: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam. Approval by Congress (through implementing legislation) is required before TPP can enter into force. If the 12 TPP countries ratify the deal, TPP would materially increase the overseas markets to which U.S. agricultural products would have preferential access. Exports account for around one-fifth of U.S. farm production, providing material support to commodity prices and farm income.
For U.S. agriculture and food industry interests, much of the potential benefit from TPP lies in improving access to TPP markets by eliminating or lowering tariffs, and also increasing the quantity of products that may be imported on preferential terms under tariff rate quotas (TRQs). TRQs allow imports of a given product to enter duty-free, or at a reduced rate, within the quota amount. Quantities in excess of the quota are subject to higher duties that can be prohibitive. The opportunity to increase sales of farm and food products is expected to be greatest in the five TPP countries with which the United States has not concluded FTAs, particularly Japan and Vietnam.
For example, the TPP agreement would substantially lower the tariff that Japan applies to U.S. fresh, chilled, and frozen beef cuts—from 38.5% currently to 27.5%—when the agreement enters into force, with further reductions down to 9% over 15 years. Significantly, this would place U.S. beef on par with the tariff treatment for Australian beef, which is the major competitor of U.S. beef in Japan and which currently enjoys a tariff preference under an FTA with Japan. Japan also would create new TRQs for U.S. wheat and rice, among other farm products, thereby expanding U.S. export opportunities across a number of product categories. The U.S. International Trade Commission has concluded that TPP would provide significant benefits to U.S. agriculture.
The corollary to the potential for greater export opportunities for U.S. farm products under TPP is that the United States would lower and eliminate tariffs on many agricultural product imports—such as tree nuts, peanuts, cotton, various fruits, tobacco, and wine, among others. The United States also would provide limited additional duty-free access to farm imports via new TRQs for dairy products and for sugar and sugar-containing products. U.S. farm products, such as beef, that enjoy preferential access to Canada and Mexico under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) would relinquish that advantage as tariffs are lowered over time for TPP partners.
While tariff rate reductions and TRQs have long been a staple of trade liberalization efforts, TPP also seeks to address several non-tariff measures that can impede trade in food and agricultural products. Among these are sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS), which concern actions by governments to assure food safety and guard against plant pests and animal diseases. TPP seeks to curb the use of SPS measures as impediments to trade and provides procedures for resolving disputes that arise, including recourse to dispute settlement. TPP also aims to minimize disruptions to trade in products of agricultural biotechnology and to bring greater coordination to the use of geographic indications, which involve exclusive naming rights for distinctive products from specific geographic locations. TPP commits countries to eliminate the use of export subsidies for agricultural products, which the United States does not employ, and seeks to reduce technical barriers to trade in wine and spirits by creating common definitions of these products and by establishing parameters for labeling and certification.
As of August 2016, numerous major farm and food trade organizations had endorsed the TPP agreement, but support within the farm and food sector has not been universal. The National Farmers Union, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, and organizations representing tobacco leaf growers are among those groups that have expressed opposition to the agreement.