Trade negotiators representing the 12 countries participating in the Trans-Pacific Partnership are holding their 21^st round of talks this week in Vietnam. At the same time, Darci Vetter, the chief agricultural negotiator in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, has traveled to Japan to participate in bilateral talks concerning dairy and other sensitive agriculture products.

Although the talks are still ongoing, The Japan Times quoted Akira Amari, Japan’s TPP minister, saying, “Ideally, Japan and the United States should reach a ministerial-level agreement by late September.”

Earlier this summer, President Barack Obama indicated his hope for broad agreement among all negotiating parties before December. "Our hope is by the time we see each other again in November, when I travel to Asia, we should have something that we have consulted with Congress about, that the public can take a look at, and we can make a forceful argument to go ahead and close the deal,” he said in a Reuters article.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership is an ambitious multi-country trade negotiation that aims to open Asia and Pacific markets to American products, including dairy. It's currently being negotiated by Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada Chile, Japan Malaysia, Mexico New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam.

The agreement's Asian-Pacific orientation and potential for expanding to other important dairy markets in the region make it an important vehicle for establishing a fair and efficient system of international trade for dairy products.

For more information, contact Beth Hughes, director of international affairs at IDFA, at bhughes@idfa.org.