Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 11/16/17

In case you missed it, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue walked back comments that he is talking with Trump administration officials and Congress about a contingency plan for farmers should the U.S. decide to withdraw from the deal. In an interview with the Des Moines Register last week, Perdue said he was "prematurely thinking out loud" when telling reporters about such a move, noting that "as a planner, it's my responsibility to think about 'what if?' scenarios."

He added: "I want to make the administration aware that there could be some devastating commodity price changes if NAFTA is not renegotiated, and we need to be prepared to deal with that, because we would need a more effective safety net for farmers if we lose our trade with Mexico and Canada." The USDA did not return multiple requests for clarity on the matter.

On the road again: Perdue has traveled to places like upstate New York, California and Iowa within the past week, along the way fielding questions from farmers who are nervous about the direction of NAFTA 2.0 negotiations. Perdue has continually said he thinks the U.S., Canada and Mexico will be successful in reaching a new deal, downplaying statements from Trump administration officials that the U.S. may have to withdraw and urging farmers to not get too anxious. Check out local reports from the Watertown Daily Times and KQED.

TOP TRADE MINISTERS STAYING AWAY FROM NAFTA ROUND 5: Three faces that have become a familiar sight at NAFTA rounds won't be seen at the fifth round of talks in Mexico City. USTR Robert Lighthizer, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland and Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo will not take part "so negotiators can continue to make important progress on key chapters advanced in Round 4," the three countries said Wednesday in a joint statement.

The three officials said they had "substantive discussions" over the weekend on the sidelines of the APEC leaders summit in Da Nang, Vietnam, "and instructed NAFTA chief negotiators to focus on advancing discussions on tabled proposals as much as possible," the statement said.

Still unclear is whether the trio's absence will mean no public briefings. The briefings that have been given during the renegotiation have mainly been confined to joint statements or press conferences featuring Lighthizer, Freeland and Guajardo at the end of previous rounds. There was no word in the joint statement about whether the chief negotiators would speak publicly when Round 5 draws to a close, on Tuesday. (It officially starts Friday, but technical level meetings began on Wednesday.)