“SEEING POSSIBILITIES in potatoes” is the upbeat slogan of Lamb Weston Potato Products, Inc., an American exporter. But new trade deals mean that its foreign competitors have fewer obstacles blocking their view. One is the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which came into effect on December 30th. Negotiated as the TPP between 12 countries and agreed between 11, after President Donald Trump pulled America out, the deal will phase out tariffs on frozen potato chips and mashed potato, benefiting Lamb Weston’s Canadian rivals. And another trade deal, between the European Union and Japan, to be implemented on February 1st, will do the same for its European ones.
The coming year is shaping up to be one of preferential trade deals, where two or a group of countries agree on their own trading rules. As well as CPTPP…
