Negotiators are nearing the finish line for an agreement on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), an ambitious trade agreement U.S. trade representatives are currently negotiating with 11 other countries in the Asia-Pacific region, Darci Vetter, chief agricultural negotiator at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representatives, told attendees at the National Pork Forum in San Antonio recently.

"We’re down to relatively few issues on each of the negotiating areas," she said. "We’ll be looking to make as much progress there as we can and make key decisions."

The TPP is important to expand U.S. market access into the rapidly growing region, Vetter said.

"Forty percent of the global economy is at the table," she said. "And (it ...