You, an average American, eat about 60 pounds of poultry a year. Outside the U.S., however, people eat less than half as much.
Making it easier – and cheaper - to sell more chicken and turkey to foreigners makes Georgia Poultry Federation president Mike Giles salivate. Georgia chicken farmers are America’s largest producers.
“We want access to world markets without unfair trade impediments,” Giles said from his office in Gainesville. “To really move the needle (on Georgia sales) we’re going to need to tap export markets.”
Two trade agreements under negotiation – the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership and the Trans Pacific Partnership - might help Georgia farmers and other businesses by lifting or reducing financial and regulatory barriers to international trade.
The proposed trade pacts would enhance foreign investment as well as increase trade in Georgia goods and services, proponents say - including Georgia-based UPS. The benefits could be massive: a combined foreign investment in the U.S. of $173 billion, according to a study by the Organization for International Investment.
But critics say American jobs could be moved overseas to low-wage countries, environmental standards could be compromised and worker safety regulations could be weakened.
Celeste Drake, national trade expert for the AFL-CIO, said poorly done, free trade agreements can be a “race to the bottom” for workers.
Read more on this story this weekend on myajc.com.
