The American Feed Industry Association (AFIA) says it will work with the Trump administration to enhance and promote the U.S. feed industry.
“Since Trump has signed an executive order withdrawing the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), interest lies in maintaining our interest in the Asia-Pacific region. We’ve been losing market share in that area,” Gina Tumbarello, director of international policy and trade at AFIA, said this week at the 2017 International Production & Processing Expo (IPPE) in Atlanta.
On January 23, Trump signed an executive order to withdraw the U.S. from the trade deal, despite its widespread support from the agriculture industry.
The agreement, which had been reached by negotiators from the U.S., Japan, Canada, Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore, Vietnam and Peru in 2015, still needed to be ratified by the governments of each participating country.
In November 2016, AFIA urged Congress to pass the TPP before President Barack Obama left the White House, but the U.S. Congress did not act on it.
Keeping US interests in mind
Tumbarello stressed the importance of a U.S. trade policy that keeps the animal feed industry’s interests in mind.
She also said AFIA will also work with the Trump administration to educate its members on the U.S. animal feed industry, as well as the benefits of free trade to the industry and its stakeholders and the value it brings to the economy.
“We will be looking at opportunities, as we do with any administration, to discuss ways that we can enhance those opportunities through their future initiatives,” Tumbarello said.