Renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) starts in August and should be finished by year-end. A number of commodity organizations fear what may be put in the new treaty. They want the negotiators to promise to ?Do No Harm? to U.S. farmers and ranchers.
Dairy, poultry, grains, oilseeds and produce industry leaders told House Ag lawmakers, that NAFTA modernization talks with Canada and Mexico should only improve trade opportunities.
?Preserve what?s working, strengthen what can be better and fix what?s broken,? said U.S. Dairy and Export Council president and CEO Tom Vilsack.
Vilsack said U.S. producers need ?predictability? and ?transparency,? so Canada can?t ?manipulate the system.? But the U.S. push to rework NAFTA has created uncertainty ? especially Mexico.
U.S. Grains Council Trade Policy Chief Floyd Gaibler said the new negotiations have given Mexico the high ground.
?We have strong, but unconfirmed evidence that Mexico is slated to purchase corn from South America beginning in August and September. Given the political uncertainty, our customers have told us that rather than continue to take future positions for grain purchases, they could resort to more volatile and risky spot markets,? Gaibler said.
National Cattlemen?s Beef Association CEO Kendal Fraizer said?
?Quite frankly, it is difficult to improve upon duty-free, unlimited access to Canada and Mexico, and we are pleased to see that USTR announced its support for reciprocal, duty-free access. Even still, our message remains the same, ?Please do no harm and do not jeopardize our access,?? Fraizer said.
Oilseed and poultry industry leaders also cited big NAFTA gains, while the produce industry called for fixes to Mexican dumping of subsidized produce exports on the U.S. market.
But, all agreed the negotiations to start next month could be tricky. Vilsack suggested Mexico may already be playing the U.S. off of the European Union (EU), suggesting to each side that Mexico can get a better deal with the other by concluding those talks, first.
