Another Round of TPP Negotiations

Ministers representing the twelve nations of the TransPacific Partnership trade agreement met last week in Salt Lake City for another round of negotiations regarding a trade deal -- that began more than three years ago.

There are a lot of pieces to this trade pact -- more than just tariffs -- it also deals with workers' rights, environmental polices, access to medicine and many other issues -- all which the participating counties must agree upon.

Colin Woodall of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association explains how a potential TransPacific Partnership trade agreement could expand export opportunities for the beef industry.

Woodall: "The TransPacific Partnership or TPP is probably one that is going to come up first. We're in the stages of negotiations right now. It is a great opportunity -- two-fold -- one is to get new access into new countries but more importantly to expand access into countries like Japan. When you look at trade it is extremely important for our industry because here in the United States our consumers don't eat all parts of the animal. When it comes to trade it is about maximizing the value of the carcass. So we can take something like beef tongue for example that is worth 20 -30 cents a pound here in the United States and send it over to Japan and get $20 a pound for it. So that really helps us in our bottom line as producers."

Further TPP negotiations will continue and are schedule in two weeks in Singapore. Hopefully agreement will be reached by year's end.