Meat+Poultry - November 2018 - 12

WA S H I N G T O N

New NAFTA
Days after the announcement of the
new United States-Mexico-Canada
Agreement (USMCA), US Agriculture
Secretary Sonny Perdue addressed
members of the North American Meat
Institute (NAMI) at its Fall Forum
in Washington.
Perdue applauded President
Trump's efforts to replace the
25-year-old North American Free Trade
Agreement (NAFTA) with the revised
trade deal. "I want to congratulate
President Trump," Perdue said. "He
understood the unfairness of the trade
agreement [NAFTA], and he called it
out early on in his administration."
Signed in 1994, NAFTA
fundamentally reshaped North
American economic relations, driving
an unprecedented integration between
Canada and the United States'
developed economies and Mexico, a
developing country.
NAFTA has been a significant factor
behind the success of US agriculture.
Since NAFTA was implemented 24
years ago, US farmers have quadrupled
exports to Canada and Mexico and the
two nations rank second and third, after
China, as markets for US farm goods.
Perdue recognized the new
agreement and its anticipated impact
on the agriculture industry.
"The fact that we are having a long-

standing trade relationship restored
and renewed - is a real tribute to our
negotiators in all three countries,"
Perdue said. "The great news of the
new USMCA deal is important for our
economy but certainly the agriculture
sector as well... We secured greater
access to these vital markets and we'll
work to maintain and improve the
highly productive integrated agriculture
relationships that we have as nations.
"If you look at some of the trade
deals before - they've been very good
for people shipping to the US, but not
as good for us if we want to enter their
markets. We see tariff and non-tariff
barriers from the countries that claim
to be our allies across the world and it's
not necessarily in our best interest."
Perdue explained the benefits
of the trade deal succinctly: "We're
locking up two of our Top 3 markets for
the future."
At the time of the trade
announcement on Oct. 1, Julie Anna
Potts, new president and CEO of
NAMI said, "Under NAFTA, US meat
and poultry exports to Mexico and
Canada have thrived as import duties
were removed and non-scientific
barriers to trade have been significantly
reduced. The North American market
for the meat and poultry industry is
nearly completely integrated and is
essential to its long-term viability. The
agreement submitted today to Congress
safeguards the core tenets of NAFTA

that have strengthened the US meat
sector and overall economy."
NAMI pointed out that since 1994,
beef exports from the US to Canada
and Mexico grew from $656 million to
over $1.7 billion in 2017. Meanwhile,
pork export values jumped from $322
million to more than $2.3 billion. US
beef and pork exports to Canada and
Mexico accounted for 30 percent
and 40 percent respectively of all US
exports in the two categories.
Other meat associations including
the National Pork and Producers
Council (NPPC) praised the Trump
administration saying the new trade
deal preserves a zero-tariff standard for
US pork to Mexico and Canada.
"We thank the administration for
its diligent work to complete recent
agreements that maintain zero-tariff
access to three of US pork's top five
markets," said Jim Heimerl, NPPC
president and a pork producer for
Johnstown, Ohio. "The three-way pact
with Mexico and Canada, our largest
and fourth largest export markets,
respectively, and the recently signed
agreement with Korea represent
welcome momentum during what has
been a challenging year."
The agreement was sent to
Congress on Oct. 1 for ratification.
Early reporting indicates that a vote on
the deal will not happen until after the
November midterms.
K I M B E R L I E C LYM A | kc l y m a @s o s l a n d.c o m

- SONNY PERDUE

12

MEAT+ POULTRY | 11.18 | www.meatpoultry.com

Gary Blakeley/Shutterstock.com

"The fact that we are having a longstanding trade relationship restored
and renewed - is a real tribute to our
negotiators in all three countries."
http://www.meatpoultry.com
Meat+Poultry - November 2018

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