The Northeast Agribusiness and Feed Alliance (NEAFA), along with dozens of other agribusiness associations and companies, signed a letter of support for the US- Mexico - Canada Agreement (USMCA) and urges swift ratification by Congress. This action follows the announcement by the Trump Administration to drop steel and aluminum tariffs imposed on these two countries. “We appreciate the President’s decision to remove the tariffs on steel and aluminum products, as this action will pave the way for the resolution of this critical trade agreement,” stated John Clark, NEAFA President. “The Agribusiness and Feed Alliance stands with the rest of the agriculture industry in strong support of free and fair-trade agreements. The USMCA, if passed by Congress, will once again set us on a path of growth for our agricultural exports, which is an essential element to a prosperous and viable US agricultural economy.”
Over the last 25 years, U.S. food and agricultural exports to Canada and Mexico have more than quadrupled under NAFTA – growing from $9 billion in 1993 to nearly $40 billion in 2018. NAFTA significantly helped create a reliable, high-quality supply of food products for U.S. consumers, while supporting more than 900,000 American jobs in food, agriculture, and related sectors of the economy. USMCA builds on the success of the NAFTA agreement, and will ultimately lead to freer markets and fairer trade. This modernized trade agreement makes improvements to further enhance U.S. food and agricultural exports to our neighbors and would deliver an additional $2.2 billion in U.S. economic activity.