The Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement was top of mind for producers at the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) meeting in Orlando this week. Jim Mulhern, President and CEO of NMPF, told AgriTalk’s Mike Adams that while the details of the agreement aren’t published, he thinks disaster was avoided.
NMPF was worried about a deal that would open U.S. markets to New Zealand without offsetting the ability to expand export opportunities for the U.S. in Canada, Japan and other countries. “I will say that it is pretty clear to me that we avoided the very negative consequences I was fearful of,” he says.
Mulhern says the final deal included a limited opening to New Zealand and offsetting export opportunities for the U.S.  “We’ll see when we have all the details,” he says. “It’s clear to me we avoided the disaster that could have occurred in this agreement.”