US eyes food exports to growing Asia under TPP trade pact

US Agriculture Secretary Thomas Vilsack speaks during an exclusive interview with The Associated Press in Tokyo Friday, Nov. 20. Vilsack said a recently agreed-to 12-nation Pacific trade pact would provide a counterbalance to China’s growing influence in the region while also opening up promising Asian markets and their burgeoning middle class. AP

TOKYO—US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack defended a recently agreed-to 12-nation Pacific trade pact, saying the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) would provide a counterbalance to China’s growing influence in the region while also opening up promising Asian markets with their burgeoning middle class.

Vilsack told The Associated Press in an interview that many Asian countries are concerned about the rise of Chinese power, “and whether or not it’s disproportionate, and whether or not there needs to be a balance.”

He said that the trade agreement “creates the kind of coalition of nations, if you will, that provides that balance.”

Vilsack is en route to China, where he will take part in annual US-China trade talks in Guangzhou from Saturday to Monday.

The wide-ranging trade agreement, known as TPP, faces a tough ratification battle in the US Congress. Other signatories range from Japan to Vietnam, but don’t include China.

The pact would help American beef producers and others tap into a growing market of Asian consumers who are demanding high-end, safe food products, Vilsack said.

“There is an expanding market opportunity in Asia, and particularly the middle class consumers, which I think plays to the strengths of any country that can produce high value-added items,” he said.

“That wouldn’t necessarily be exclusively the US. I think Japan has tremendous opportunity as well,” he said.

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