Washington Insider - Friday

Ideology and Trade

Here's a quick monitor of Washington farm and trade policy issues from DTN's well-placed observer.

Clinton: Focus Farm Safety Net on Family Operations

If Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton becomes president, she would focus the farm safety net on "farmers and ranchers that truly need it the most, not those who have the biggest businesses or the best connections. We will change the formula," according to details included in a fact sheet called Plan for a Vibrant Rural America. http://bit.ly/…

Clinton cited farm-program reform as part of her 4-point plan for a vibrant rural America. The four points, she said during a speech in central Iowa, are (1) renewable energy, (2) investment, (3) agriculture and (4) access to health care and education.

Rural states can show the way in solar power and renewable fuels, Clinton said. "We need to strengthen the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) so that it drives the development of advanced biofuels and expands the overall contribution that renewable fuels make to our national fuel supply," she said, a popular refrain for Iowa voters.

Clinton also called for comprehensive immigration reform, broader investment in rural areas, including expansion of high-speed Internet access, which also could be used in telemedicine that improves rural health care.

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USDA Announces $200 Million Plan to Protect Sage Grouse and Habitat

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on August 27 unveiled the government's plan to spend $211 million over the next four years to protect the sage grouse and its habitat.

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Under what officials are calling the Sage Grouse Initiative 2.0, ranchers will receive additional financial assistance to improve conservation efforts on their land to benefit the bird and their agricultural operations, according to the USDA.

In a statement, Vilsack said these "efforts are also good for cattle, good for ranching operations, and good for America's rural economy."

The government -- along with private groups -- has been working on conserving land to protect sage grouse since 2010. They have conserved 4.4 million acres, an area that's twice the size of Yellowstone National Park.

Between 2010 and 2014, the government spent $296.5 million on those projects. By the end of 2018, the USDA expects it will have spent $760 million along with private partners.

The department said it worked with nearly a dozen states on the strategy: California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

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Washington Insider: Ideology and Trade

Diplomatic talks on the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) cover a broad range of issues beyond tariffs and other border measures. That breadth of issues is partly why these talks have long generated opposition. Increasingly, trade officials in trading partner countries are asserting that much of this opposition is merely "ideology." Issues of concern often include the matter of closed door negotiations, labor and environment rules, patent and other intellectual property, as well as the longer-term impact on local jobs.

Recently, New Zealand's Trade Minister Tim Groser took to the media in a counter offensive and called opposition to the TPP deal "the antithesis of all countries' experiences,' and deeply ideological at its root." He called the current resistance to the TPP "extreme," at the Southeast Asian and New Zealand entrepreneurs' summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

New Zealand depends heavily on trade and has been a strong supporter of the TPP -- although it was recently somewhat critical of U.S. leadership, especially concerning the sections on intellectual property. Earlier this month, several thousand people took part in anti-TPP demonstrations across New Zealand and Malaysia. Groser sharply downplayed the importance of such protests, suggesting they are not supported by the facts.

"But when we've done this deal -- if we do this deal -- then we'll be able to get the facts out and confront these ludicrously exaggerated concerns," said Groser. "I'm absolutely beyond the stage of argument on the value of integrating our communities in a politically sensitive way and we're not going to be stopped by these anti-trade forces." However, he agreed with other commentators that final approval won't be easy.

Talks ended in Hawaii late last month without a resolution as the 12 nations involved grappled with key sticking points, including improved access for dairy products into the United States and Canada and U.S. pharmaceutical firms' demands for longer patent terms.

Talks on a second free trade deal, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, are currently taking place in Kuala Lumpur. That deal involves the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and six other nations, including New Zealand.

In spite of the failure to complete the deal in Hawaii, experts still suggest the odds are high that the TPP package will eventually be concluded. For example, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman told the press last week that the TPP was essentially completed. That statement was treated with skepticism in some quarters as observers await additional details.

However, if USTR Froman's appraisal is correct, that would bring the fight back to the U.S. Senate where the Republican leadership would once again face a significant challenge in patching together the votes necessary for approval, Washington Insider believes.


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