Ag News

Ag groups support 16-year renewal of USMCA

In an Oct. 31 letter to the office of the United States Trade Representative, a collection of 124 agricultural stakeholder groups expressed support for extending the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) signed onto the letter, as did the Georgia Corn Growers Association and the Georgia/Florida Soybean Association.

The letter, addressed to Assistant USTR for the Western Hemisphere Daniel Watson, notes many U.S. farms and agribusinesses have benefited from the ease of trade facilitated by the USMCA between the three countries.

“Our organizations are deeply reliant on trade, and our closest neighbors are the strongest trading partners for U.S. agriculture and its continued success,” the organizations wrote. “We stand ready to provide the expertise needed to maintain U.S. leadership within USMCA and advocate for the continued trade certainty that it provides.”

Canada and Mexico are among the United States’ top five export markets. The groups noted that value of agrifood trade between the three countries has tripled between 2005 and 2023, totaling $285 billion.

 Nearly three-fourths of all U.S. agricultural exports to Mexico are comprised of grains, pulses, seeds and oilseeds, meat and related products. With Mexico, the U.S. enjoys a trade surplus in those categories.

Canada is the largest or second-largest market for a large variety of U.S. agricultural products, including grain and feed, dairy products, seeds, fruits and vegetables, meat and meat products, seafood and fish products, processed foods, distilled spirits, and biofuels.

For both Canada and Mexico, the United States is each country’s largest trading partner, the groups noted. 

Importantly, the sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS)  measures including in the agreement improved transparency, and the technical barriers to trade provisions have helped remove trade requirements that inhibited trade. At the same time, the USMCA has helped protect U.S. innovations in seed and chemistry.

The groups urged the USTR to use caution when considering adjustments to the USMCA’s zero-tariff provisions.

To read the letter in its entirety, click here.

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