In a statement, the Meat Industry Association and Beef + Lamb New Zealand said multilateral trade liberalisation created a stable and level play field on which to compete and was "hugely important" to the growth and future prosperity of the sector and New Zealand.
"We estimated that a 12-nation TPP would have delivered around $72million in tariff savings a year for the red meat sector alone, not to mention volume growth in high-value markets that would flow from tariff reduction.
"The US withdrawing from the TPP is a real setback to our capitalising on these opportunities and it’s a loss for consumers in the TPP nations," MIA chief executive Tim Ritchie said.
Equally disappointing was the lost opportunity of "levelling the playing field" in countries such as Japan, where the sector’s competitiveness has been eroded relative to others such as Australia that had concluded trade deals with Japan.
"The TPP would have created the leverage for us to remedy this," Mr Ritchie said.
B+LNZ chief executive Sam McIvor said the sector would encourage the New Zealand Government to keep pursuing a good outcome in the region.
"We say the TPP would have delivered value to all parties, including the US. But, if the US isn’t going to progress the TPP now, we see value in the remaining parties remodelling the agreement to benefit the rest of us in the Asia Pacific region.
"Should the opportunity arise, we would be supportive of the Government seeking bilateral trade deals with both the US and Japan," Mr McIvor said.
Both organisations would be making those points to Trade Minister Todd McClay, who foreshadowed a refreshing of the New Zealand Trade Policy Strategy last year.
B+LNZ directors Andrew Morrison and George Tatham will travel to the US soon on previously arranged visits. That would provide an opportunity to hear directly from US ranchers as to their take on President Trump’s decision and where the US was "likely to head next", B+LNZ chairman James Parsons said in his latest chairman’s update.
