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Trade with our neighbors to the north and south is big business for America’s farmers. That’s why there is a big push by ag groups to keep USMCA intact.
“Mexico is our number one, Canada is our number two export destination now,” says Dave Salmonsen, senior director of government affairs for the American Farm Bureau Federation. “The best trade is to trade with the neighbors. It’s the most efficient trade there is.”
And that’s why organizations like Farm Bureau are pushing for renewal of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement when the review process gets underway later this year.
Salmonsen says the Senate Finance Committee heard testimony this past week highlighting the benefits of the agreement.
“Basically, they talked about how good it had been for North American business, how good it had been for North American agriculture, how much it’s increased our exports, how important it is to our supply chains, and I guess crucially, going in through this review process that’s going to happen later this year, why it needs to continue. If they agree in July it should go forward, then it goes forward for at least another 16 years.”
Salmonsen notes that while the deal has been positive overall, there are still some updates that need to be made.
“We never quite realized all that we wanted and was negotiated in the original USMCA agreement. We thought we negotiated some extensive dairy access with Canada, and they have grown, but not to the extent we thought they would, to get the access we know we should get.”
Salmonsen said it’s important to look at USMCA through a historical lens of relationships between the U.S. and our neighbors on both sides of the border.
“We’ve had such strong growth. You go back to 1993, the beginning of NAFTA, the US exported about $8 billion of ag products to Canada and Mexico combined. Now we’re over $60 billion.”
The Trump administration has acknowledged that USMCA has been successful to a certain degree, though it has indicated the renewal of the agreement is not guaranteed.
That has led to the creation of the Agricultural Coalition for USMCA, a coalition of over 40 ag groups that includes Farm Bureau, the National Corn Growers Association, the American Soybean Association, and others, that are urging leaders to uphold this landmark agreement. You can learn more at agforusmca.com.
Source: NAFB News Service