Following the previous governments inking a deal as part of Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), accolades kept flowing in for the federal government as to how it will help processors, exporters and producers in Canada.
Claude Vielfaure, the vice-president of Hylife says Canada’s participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership will help maintain his company’s competitiveness in Japan, while creating new export opportunities in other nations.
Twelve nations reached an agreement earlier this month involved in negotiations aimed at creating a Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement that must now pass the scrutiny of the federal Parliament for ratification and implementation. However, not only here in Canada but in all 12 participating countries. In Canada, it will need to pass the new parliament after the October 19 election and that could prove interesting.
Vielfaure says Canada exports over 80 percent of the pork it producers and, because this trade agreement is the biggest in the world, accounting for 40 per cent of the global economy, it is vital important for Canada to be part of it.
Hylife already exports a lot of pork to Japan.
“That is one of our biggest markets on fresh chilled pork so it is a very very important market that needs to stay open for us,” he said. “Because of the TPP, it is important to be part of the deal but also to have a level playing field.”
So whatever the agreement says, it is important for Canada to be on the same terms as the U.S. and any other country able to sell pork.
“We don’t have all the details of the deal but I think that has been accomplished and so, for us, that is exciting and hopefully be able to continue to sell to Japan and that opens other markets like Vietnam and Malaysia,” Vielfaure said. “Vietnam has high tariffs and that will go away over time so it opens up some different countries for us to be able to sell more pork so, for us, it was extremely important to be able to get trade deals done with different countries.”
He says once, the parties sign the basic agreement, other deals come up so companies and countries sign more and more deals. This obviously is a big one.
“There will probably be other countries that will want to be part of it in the future and it opens up a base agreement that you can use for other negotiations with different countries so I think that’s all very positive,” said Vielfaure.
Florian Possberg, the chair of Sask Pork says Canada’s participation as a founding member of the Trans-Pacific Partnership puts Canada in a strong position to benefit as new members, such as China, come on board.
Possberg says members of this partnership represent 40 per cent of the world’s economy so this is really an important trade agreement for Canada and particularly Canada’s pork industry who are very significant traders globally.
“We’ve shown that Canada can be a leading negotiator of free trade agreements worldwide including this one, the one with Europe, and the North American Free Trade Agreement are all positive for our industry,” he said. “It shows that we are serious about being a global player in terms of trade.”
Being a founding member of this trade agreement, there is thoughts that China will likely be interested in joining this agreement over time.
“Being a founding member means that we’re really part of the core group that sets the rules and regulations and how it operates,” Possberg said. “I think there has to be a lot of appreciation on the part of our industry for the hard work that went into making this happen. It just shows the dedication and the absolute commitment to being a global partner in terms of trade and our industry particularly really appreciates that.”
He says it’s important for Canada to be part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and it’s also very important to be there as a founding member.  •