Asia is a major egg producer

This article from World Poultry in 2009 demonstrates why there are potentially major problems for the Australian egg industry if the Australian Government signs the Trans Pacific Partnership (should an agreement be reached).

http://www.worldpoultry.net/Layers/Eggs/2009/8/Asia-dominates-in-egg-consumption-WP006947W/

Egg production has increased significantly in many of the countries in Asia since that article was written and the importation of shell eggs into Australia is likely to be an inevitable consequence of a free trade agreement. China is by far the largest egg producer in Asia, followed by India, Japan, Indonesia, South Korea, Philippines, Thailand, Pakistan, Malaysia and Vietnam.

No agreement on the TPP

Many people are celebrating the lack of agreement on the Trans-Pacific Partnership after four days of negotiations in Singapore.

It's clear that support for such a massive free trade agreement involving 12 countries is waning as some of the individual countries see little value for their own economies.  Major sticking points concern market access and differences over tariffs on imported goods.

Negotiators had initially hoped that a draft agreement would emerge from the talks and that a deal would be ready in April.

But arguments over the issues of tariffs on specific goods have proved difficult to overcome.

Agricultural tariffs are particularly sensitive for Japan, which is trying to protect its rice, wheat, beef and pork as well as dairy and sugar, from outside competition.

Some other TPP members (such as Australia) with large agricultural production available for export, are pushing for the elimination of all tariffs. Industries in some countries would be decimated by the complete removal of tariffs.

The real reason for Toyota, GM and Alcoa pulling out of Australia

The real reason for Toyota, General Motors and Ford pulling out of manufacturing in Australia may have been revealed today. Federal Trade Minister Andrew Robb announced a Free Trade Agreement with South Korea. He said that tariffs on Australian exports will be removed under the agreement and that the deal would deliver hundreds of millions of dollars in exports.
 

Plans are also well advanced for the Trans Pacific Partnership which will extend so-called 'free trade' still further and this may have helped to trigger Alcoa's decision to close its Geelong smelter. Alcoa is "repositioning" itself in the global market place - it already has operations in South Korea and Indonesia. The TPP could be signed in Singapore this week.

"As a result of the agreement, tariffs will be eliminated on Australia's major exports to Korea and there will be significant new market openings in services and investment," said Minister Robb.
 

"As part of the FTA, tariffs of up to 300 per cent will be eliminated on key Australian agricultural exports such as beef, wheat, sugar, dairy, wine, horticulture and seafood, as well as resources, energy and manufactured goods.”
 

It is claimed that the benefits of the FTA will start immediately, with some modelling suggesting that the Free Trade Agreement would be worth $5 billion between 2015 and 2030 and could boost the economy by around $650 million annually after 15 years.
 

The suggestion is that Australian automotive suppliers will benefit from the immediate removal of tariffs as high as eight per cent; the wine industry from tariffs of 15 per cent and Australian wheat growers, potato farmers and cherry, grape and mango producers would all benefit.

 

If we believe that, we deserve everything we get!!

Unfortunately it seems that currently Australia's largest export through our ports is shipping containers! They arrive here full but as we have little to put in them, most are loaded empty onto the container ships - so effectively we are exporting Australian air.

Ask Tony Abbott to think again.
http://action.sumofus.org/a/australia-tpp/2/3/?akid=4011.1781662.iSzI7W&rd=1&sub=fwd&t=5

The dodgy Trans-Pacific Partnerhip agreement

The Australian Government says that the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) is 'a viable pathway for realising the vision of a free trade area of the Asia-Pacific.'

It says that the Asia-Pacific region is a driver of global economic growth with close to half of all global trade.

The secretive TPP negotiations include five of Australia’s top 10 trading partners, Japan, United States, Singapore, New Zealand and Malaysia. The Government claims that Australia’s participation in the TPP negotiations will strengthen our trade relationship with these key trading partners. The TPP also includes Brunei Darussalam, Chile, Peru, and Vietnam – and others have been invited to join.

But if it is all it's cracked up to be, why are the negotiations not public? There are huge global businesses pushing the agenda and it seems that they don't want us to know what is going on.

Information which has been leaked about the negotiations causes many concerns over things like the trashing of national food safety regulations and draconian enforcement measures over intellectual property rights.

If the TPP is implemented it will take 'free trade' to a completely different level and we can kiss goodbye to food safety standards. Our own industry will be under attack as there will no way to prevent the importation of eggs from any of the participating countries.

Have a look at:

https://www.eff.org/issues/tpp