Even With Trade Chaos, Agriculture Interests Say USMCA Ratification Worth Having

President Donald Trump has threatened to put tariffs on Mexico's auto exports despite a side letter -- already in force -- expressly prohibiting such an action. Then, he decided to put tariffs on all Mexican imports to force Mexico to stop migrants from coming to the U.S. to claim asylum.

Given these actions, a panel was asked at the Atlantic Council June 12, what certainty could the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement possibly provide?

Maria Zieba, director of international affairs for the National Pork Producers Council, said, "the longer we are in this limbo" before the new NAFTA is ratified, the worse it is. Beth Hughes, senior director of international affairs for the International Dairy Foods Association, dismissed the gains for dairy as "some marginal market access," though she said there was also some elimination of Canada's market-distorting practices that were hurting American farmers: ability to sell elsewhere. But she said the real importance of getting USMCA ratified is what that will do for negotiations with Japan or other countries. If Congress can't pass this, which is just an update to a trade agreement, she asked, what does that say about our ability to ratify a new trade deal?

However, Hughes said negotiating with the European Union at this juncture is pointless for her industry. "When we did [the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)], we tried in the ag space, the dairy space. In GI [geographical indicators], we offered compromises. Everybody could win." She said they also tried to find a compromise on sanitary and phytosanitary issues. "They just shot them down. Are we going to go through all that again?"

In contrast, Hughes is not downbeat about the NAFTA rewrite's chance of passage. "The [House] Speaker is moving forward," she said, and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal said this week that the outstanding issues can be solved. "If there's will, it could be done by the end of the year," Hughes said.

Zieba said the fact that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is now talking about one working group rather than four is a positive sign. "The Speaker, I think she's leaving a lot of room to maneuver," Zieba said.