Sort & Cull

There's an old saying among professional negotiators that goes something like this: "If you're not at the table, you're probably on the menu."

Sometimes I fear the opponents of the pending Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) -- a 12-country trade pact that promises to significantly lower trade barriers currently lining the Pacific Rim for U.S. beef and pork producers (not to mention a host of other industries) -- think that by staying home the U.S. can somehow magically reclaim long-lost manufacturing jobs, dictate global standards for labor and product safety, and successfully lead environmental reform from the sidelines.

Whether such thinking stems from political pandering, an ignorance of the fast pace by which world trade relationships are currently evolving, or simply short-sightedness, these critics need to know they may be unwitting "entrees" for someone else's international dinning pleasure.

Here's the bottom line. Regardless how indignantly U.S. politicians posture, trading nations of the world are scrambling to make deals that favor the home turf. Free trade agreements over the last decade have proliferated like crab grass. Indeed, just this week Australia and China inked a new sweetheart pact that waves 85% of Australian goods into Chinese ports with no tariff (rising to 95% in the near future).

Note to beef producers: With Australia having already sealed similar pacts with Japan and South Korea, a large percentage of Australian exports will soon be tariff-free.

In my opinion, many in Congress have been fooling themselves this month about whether our country should be a part of the TPP or just sit at home and scowl at how the rest of the world does business. Surely, that's a "Hobson's choice," if there ever was one.

That phrase dates back to 16th century England when livery stable owner Thomas Hobson, in order to rotate the use of his horses, offered customers the choice of either taking the horse in the stall nearest the door or taking none at all. In other words, it refers to a choice that's completely illusory, as real as the option between breathing oxygen and strapping on a tank of carbon dioxide.

If we're serious about sustainable economic growth, meaningful jobs for the future (i.e., long lasting one that pay a livable wage), and real environmental reform on a global basis, there is no real choice but to come to the TPP table.

--

John A. Harrington

(CZ)

© Copyright 2015 DTN/The Progressive Farmer. All rights reserved.