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Ag can't survive NAFTA withdrawal
Story Date: 11/22/2017
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Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 11/21/17
As the fifth round of NAFTA talks gets ready to close today in Mexico, the agriculture industry sought to communicate just how harshly it would be affected if a trade deal that is helping struggling sectors survive is terminated.
Just how much does ag depend on NAFTA? Pro Trade's Doug Palmer reports that Russell Boening, president of the Texas Farm Bureau, told a Senate Finance subcommittee at a field hearing in San Antonio that exports were the saving grace that helped offset a sharp drop in farm income. "Due to the current state of the farm economy, a full withdrawal of the U.S. from NAFTA would devastate the entire agricultural community and our nation," Boening said. "We must make certain this does not happen."
Some eye-opening numbers: Boening told Sen. John Cornyn that NAFTA had helped boost U.S. agricultural exports to Canada and Mexico to more than $38 billion today, from $8.9 billion in 1993. These sales support 509,000 jobs, and exports drive a fourth of farmers' incomes.
More pushback against Trump: Cornyn, the No. 2 Senate Republican, challenged President Donald Trump's view of NAFTA as a "disaster" for the United States. "The data is staggering and the verdict is clear: NAFTA has worked as intended," he said.
In other developments:
- Behind closed doors: Amid a relatively quiet fifth round of talks in Mexico, Canadian negotiators haven't been making counteroffers but have used their time in closed-door meetings to challenge U.S. proposals with data and to ask for explanations of the U.S.'s rationale behind the need for change. The strategy has become increasingly irritating to U.S. officials, who feel it does little to advance the state of the negotiations, sources briefed on the talks tell Pro Trade's Megan Cassella.
- Lawmakers speak up: A bipartisan group of 18 senators representing agriculture-heavy states are demanding that the Trump administration conduct an economic analysis of the effects that changes to NAFTA might have on the crop and livestock sectors, reports Pro Trade's Adam Behsudi.
- What's on tap: Today, on the last day of talks, negotiators in Mexico City are focused on agriculture, technical barriers to trade, auto rules of origin, dispute settlement and investment, according to a schedule obtained by our Morning Trade colleagues.
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