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agriculture | farmers | food

Activists fret about RCEP impact
20-Oct-2016 Bangkok Post
Access to affordable medicine and farmers’ control over seeds could be undermined by the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership being negotiated between Asean member countries and six other trade partners, says FTA Watch in Thailand
Key to lead mission to India; ASEAN FTA review announced
17-Oct-2016 Business Desk
Prime Minister John Key will lead a trade delegation to India next week, saying the pursuit of a trade agreement with the highly protected agricultural giant is "the primary reason we’re going" but playing down the likelihood of early progress
Activists reject ratification of seed patent in ASEAN RCEP
17-Oct-2016 The Jakarta Post
An activist group is calling on the government to not ratify the ASEAN Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) clause on International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) 1991, saying that it will increase global corporations’ monopolistic control over small farmers.
Spain: Partnership agreement between EU and SADC rejected
14-Oct-2016 Fresh Plaza
The Joint Parliamentary Group has presented a non-legislative motion at the Parliament, urging the Government not to ratify the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the EU and the Southern African Development Community.
German farmers divided over EU-Canada trade deal
30-Sep-2016 EurActiv
The German agricultural sector is divided in its opinion of the deal: large farms relish the advantages and small enterprises fear the competition.
“If beef is not included”, there won’t be no Mercosur-EU trade agreement, warns Uruguay
30-Sep-2016 Merco Press
European Union and Mercosur coordinators to exchange the list of goods and services in mid October, the first formal meeting of its kind in fourteen years.
NFU President meets with EU farm leaders in Brussels, talks dairy crisis and CETA
29-Sep-2016 National Farmers Union
NFU President encouraged Europe to solve its ongoing dairy crisis by adopting a Canadian-style supply management system instead of attempting to use the CETA trade agreement to increase dairy exports to Canada.
Japan, EU to discuss troublesome farm products separately in talks on economic partnership agreement
26-Sep-2016 The Japan Times
Japan and the European Union plan to discuss key farming products separately from other goods in negotiations on a proposed economic partnership agreement for free trade
Rice import scandal may ignite TPP spat in Japan
19-Sep-2016 Nikkei Asian Review
An official admission that importers and wholesalers may have been circumventing a government program designed to protect domestic farmers could have a negative impact on upcoming Diet discussions regarding the Trans-Pacific Partnership
Deeper analysis on potential Pacific trade pact: Chile
12-Sep-2016 Farm Futures
Six percent appears to be the base rate on tariffs for products exported to Chile.
Where is the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership headed?
9-Sep-2016 Spicy IP
The latest round of RCEP talks paints a worrisome picture for the global south, given that it will bring 3.5 billion people and 12% of world trade into its fold.
The climate cost of free trade
7-Sep-2016 IATP
As countries take action to protect the climate, conflicts between trade rules and climate goals will escalate. The intentional separation of these two global priorities is becoming increasingly untenable.
Chinese beef acquisitions in Uruguay as Beijing dangles free trade deal
31-Aug-2016 GMN
The purchase of a Uruguayan beef processor by a giant Chinese industrial conglomerate looks well-timed as China dangles the prospect of a free trade deal before the Latin American nation.
Revision of the tariffs losses of West Africa in case of a regional EPA: 2020-50
25-Aug-2016 SOL
After the Brexit vote, Jacques Berthelot updates the value of imports and losses of import duties of West Africa in case of ratification and implementation of the Economic Partnership Agreement with the EU28 minus the UK
Trade talks that could milk India dry
16-Aug-2016 The Hindu
The proposed shift in India’s RCEP strategy could hurt the country’s 75 million small dairy producing households
Free people from ‘dictatorship’ of 0.01%
10-Aug-2016 Deccan Chronicle
Through RCEP, Asian countries may be dragged into the TPP under pressure of harmonisation, especially on issues related to seed, warns Vandana Shiva
UK-China free trade agreement of ‘great interest’ to meat sector
4-Aug-2016 GMN
A China bilateral trade deal offers "great opportunities" to the UK meat industry, according to The International Meat Trade Association (IMTA).
Farmers are most worried about the ramifications of TTIP
27-Jul-2016 AgriLand
Farmers, more than any other socio-economic group, are most worried about the impact of world trade deals such as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).
RCEP - trade in goods chapter negotiating text (August 2015)
25-Jul-2016
RCEP consolidated goods chapter negotiating text as of 9th round of negotiations
TPP, WTO and Japan’s rice
20-Jul-2016 NOUMINREN
At the time of the GATT Uruguay Round Agreement, Japan accepted the import of Minimum Access (MA) rice. This situation will get worse by the additional import quotas set by the TPP.