National Pork Producers Council President-elect John Weber referred to the Trans-Pacific Partnership(TPP) as “the biggest commercial opportunity ever for U.S. pork producers,” during a press conference this week on the recently concluded free trade deal.

“America’s pork producers strongly and unequivocally support the TPP, and we urge Congress to quickly pass it,” said Weber, a pork producer from Dysart, Iowa. “The TPP will benefit American consumers, workers, businesses, farmers and ranchers, and we’re confident it will provide enormous new market opportunities for high-quality U.S. pork products.”

The Asia-Pacific regional trade agreement includes the United States, Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam and accounts for nearly 40 percent of global GDP. Representatives from the American Soybean Association, the National Association of Wheat Growers, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, the National Corn Growers Association and the U.S. Grains Council joined Weber in expressing support for the agreement. Also participating in the press conference was Phil Karsting, administrator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service.

“While no agreement is perfect,” Weber said, “the TPP is overwhelmingly beneficial to the United States, and members of Congress need to keep that in mind.

Iowa State University economist Dermot Hayes estimates the TPP will exponentially increase U.S. pork exports and help create more than 10,000 U.S. jobs tied to those exports.

“Pork producers across the country will do whatever it takes to get TPP passed by Congress and implemented. That’s a promise,” concluded Weber.