WASHINGTON — Editor’s note: The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) has taken effect, as of July 1st. The following statements have been released from a variety of agricultural organizations praising its implementation.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue
National Milk Producers Federation
American Soybean Association
American Feed Industry Association
The Fertilizer Institute
U.S. Grains Council
U.S. Wheat Associates / National Association of Wheat Growers
North American Meat Institute
Today, The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) enters into force, replacing the decades-old NAFTA. USMCA is a better deal for America’s farmers, consumers and workers that will set them up for success for decades to come. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue penned an oped in the North Carolina Fayetteville Observersaying, “USMCA creates more market access for farmers from across our nation to sell their wholesome and nutritious products to our closest neighbors. This is a better deal for America that will grow our economy and put more money in the pockets of American families.”
More here from Secretary Perdue’s oped:
“On my first day as Secretary of Agriculture, President Trump promised he’d fight for better deals for American farmers. That is why the president renegotiated the decades-old NAFTA and modernized it into a better deal for America’s farmers, consumers and workers that will set them up for success for decades to come…
“We are shown once again that President Trump has the backs of America’s farmers and thank him on the delivery of this much better deal…
“USMCA helps all of America’s diverse agricultural industries. This new and improved deal secures greater access to markets and lowers barriers for our agricultural products…
“USMCA eliminates Canada’s unfair Class 7 milk pricing scheme that was creatively developed to allow unfairly low-priced Canadian dairy products to undersell U.S. products in Canada and in third-country markets. United States poultry and egg producers will also see expanded access to Canada’s market, directly benefiting American producers in states like Iowa, Georgia, Arkansas and California…
“It includes rules to address all agricultural biotechnology, including gene editing, in support of 21st century innovations in agriculture. The agreement also improves the flow of trade with new and enforceable rules to ensure that sanitary and phytosanitary measures to protect human, animal, or plant life or health are science-based and transparent…
“USMCA also updates the rules of origin for processed fruits to ensure preferences benefit U.S. producers. Most importantly, the new agreement maintains the tariff-free access for nearly all U.S. agricultural commodities shipped into Mexico and Canada, providing America’s farmers and ranchers continued market access…
“The implementation of this deal sends a strong signal to other important export markets such as the United Kingdom and the European Union that President Trump and Congress are serious about pursuing and enacting future agreements that create better economic opportunities for all parties involved. The United States is open for business, and our farmers are ready to export more of their wholesome and nutritious products to consumers around the world…”
Additionally, Secretary Perdue joined FOX News’ Sandra Smith this morning on America’s Newsroom to talk about the USMCA. You may view their comments on the USMCA or on the image below to watch.
The U.S. dairy industry celebrates the U.S. Trade Representative’s office and Congress for the strides made in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) as it enters into force today. At the same time, the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) and U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) also noted that harvesting the full benefit of those hard-fought wins now relies on robust enforcement of the agreement.
The modernized trade deal is a testament to the tremendous bipartisan effort from both the Administration and members of Congress to improve trade rules. USMCA is designed to usher in significant changes to U.S.-Canadian dairy trade, restore certainty to U.S.-Mexico trade relations and establish important protections for common name cheeses.
Given the importance of these reforms to the growth of U.S. exports and economic health of the dairy industry, it is critical that the U.S. Trade Representative and U.S. Department of Agriculture utilize USMCA’s stringent enforcement measures to ensure Canada and Mexico are held accountable to their trade commitments.
This is of particular importance given that Canada’s recently announced TRQ allocations run counter to USCMA commitments crafted to expand access to the Canadian dairy market. In the next few months, Canada will finalize its plans for future TRQ allocations and the elimination of its Class 6 &7 pricing programs, making it incumbent upon the U.S. to insist on full alignment with USMCA obligations.
“As USMCA enters into force, America’s dairy farmers and cooperatives are looking forward to a brighter future built on the foundation of this modernized trade agreement. Dairy is counting on this trade agreement, carefully crafted by USTR and with strong bipartisan support, to deliver tangible benefits to our industry during an uncertain time when our farmers need additional export markets and trade opportunities more than ever. To fulfill the promises of USMCA, the U.S. government can’t take its eyes off the goal of ensuring that this deal is fully enforced and implemented as intended,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF.
USMCA also strengthens the relationship between Mexico and the U.S. and establishes new protections for products that rely on common cheese names, such as parmesan and feta. It is critical that Mexico abide by these new requirements and refrain from introducing new trade mandates, such as product conformity assessments, that place a larger burden on U.S. exporters than on Mexican companies.
“After years of hard work by the Administration and Congress to bring this new agreement to fruition, the U.S. dairy industry is pleased to celebrate USMCA as it enters into force, mandating new access into Canada’s restrictive markets and establishing groundbreaking protections for American-made cheeses in Mexico,” said Tom Vilsack, president and CEO of USDEC. “If implemented in good faith and diligently enforced, USMCA will deliver positive benefits to dairy, and all of agriculture, as it facilitates the smooth flow of trade in North America. The implementation of USMCA’s provisions is
not the end of our work, it’s simply the beginning as we continue our efforts to break down global barriers to fair dairy trade and to ensure this agreement is fully enforced.”
According to the International Trade Commission, if USMCA is implemented as negotiated, U.S. dairy exports are projected to increase by more than $314 million a year. These dairy sales will have a positive effect on American farmers, bolstering dairy farm revenue by an additional $548 million over the first six years of implementation, according to industry estimates.
The North American trade agreement, which ensures U.S. soy growers maintain robust access to two of their top markets, enters into force July 1
After nearly a year of advocating on the Hill and online for a new North American free trade deal, the American Soybean Association (ASA) cheers the implementation of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).
Mexico is the #2 market for whole beans, meal and oil, and Canada is the #4 buyer of meal and #7 buyer of oil for U.S. soybean farmers, making the trade agreement essential to sustaining the growth realized in those two countries under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Under NAFTA, U.S. soybean sales to Mexico quadrupled and to Canada doubled.
ASA expresses its strong appreciation to the Administration and Congress for coming together on this bipartisan effort to ratify the agreement, which was signed into law by President Trump in January 2020.
“USMCA is a win for U.S. soybean farmers and the American economy, as it restores certainty and stability to two important export markets for our farmers and lays a foundation for future growth,” said ASA President Bill Gordon, a soybean grower from Worthington, Minnesota. “In addition to securing the Mexican market as the second largest importer of U.S. soybeans, the terms agreed to by Canada will increase U.S. poultry and dairy exports, which is another positive for the ag industry.”
Gordon, who attended the USMCA signing in January at the White House, expressed gratitude to lawmakers and the Administration for seeing the trade deal through, as well as the soy growers who pushed tirelessly every step of the way.
“On behalf of ASA, I thank the Administration and Congress for making USMCA a priority, and the soy growers who took time from their fields to advocate, whether in-person or online, to make this agreement a reality,” said the farmer.
USMCA replaces NAFTA, maintaining zero tariffs on U.S. soybeans, improving transparency, support for biotechnology and innovation, and creates a rapid response mechanism to respond to trade challenges.
The American Feed Industry Association (AFIA) joins organizations across the agriculture industry in commending North American leaders for ushering in and implementing the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which enters into force today.
“We are entering into a new era of trade with Canada and Mexico – one that allows U.S. animal food producers to remain competitive, strengthens our regulatory engagement and commitments with our trading partners and lays the groundwork for innovation to meet the agriculture industry’s future needs,” said AFIA President and CEO Constance Cullman. “I commend our countries’ national leaders, particularly the efforts of President Trump and his administration over the past three years, for making this much-needed agreement a reality.”
In an ever-increasing global economy, the United States’ northern and southern neighbors have the largest impact on the animal food industry and on American agriculture. Mexico and Canada represent the country’s largest and second largest export markets for feed, feed ingredients and pet food, respectively, totaling $3.3 billion today. Since the North American Free Trade Agreement’s (NAFTA) implementation, animal food exports to Canada and Mexico have nearly quadrupled, growing from $669 million in 1993 to $3.3 billion in 2019. While NAFTA was a linchpin in the success of the feed industry for the past quarter-century, the USMCA brings new labor provisions to protect U.S. jobs and provides enforceable sanitary and phytosanitary obligations that build upon World Trade Organization rights and obligations.
The Fertilizer Institute (TFI) President and CEO Corey Rosenbusch released the following statement regarding the implementation of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).
TFI applauds President Trump, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for their bipartisan efforts to put American workers and industry in a position to be able to compete on the global stage by ensuring that markets remain open and fair.
“We look forward to the implementation of the USMCA, which is an emphatic win for agriculture and the millions of hard-working men and women who grow the food, fuel and fiber that feeds our growing world. Canada and Mexico are our two largest agricultural trading partners and the USMCA puts American workers and industry in a position to be able to compete on a global stage and ensure that markets remain open and fair. We are confident that USMCA implementation will strengthen U.S. agriculture and the countless communities whose economic well-being is tied directly to the soil.”
Today, the U.S-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) officially enters into force, a culmination of years of work to update and improve the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), offering partners improved agricultural market access and freer, fairer trade between the countries.
“This agreement solidifies our country’s most important and strategic trade relationships with our best customers and promises further economic growth in tandem with our most-valued partners – Mexico and Canada,” said Darren Armstrong, U.S. Grains Council (USGC) chairman. “We appreciate the administration’s hard-won efforts to deliver and implement an agreement that includes significant improvements and offers more modern approaches to trade and we thank our partners in both Canada and Mexico whose efforts have been equally appreciated and fruitful.”
From negotiations to ratification, the Council worked and continues to work within the industry and with Canadian and Mexican corn, sorghum, barley, co-products and ethanol customers to ensure the needs of the U.S. grains sector are met and USMCA will build on the success the U.S. experienced under NAFTA.
“We often hosted Mexican buyers to the United States, sent U.S. farmers on missions to Mexico and have continued to market the importance of our trade relationships with our stakeholders in both countries,” said Armstrong. “Both the Council’s leaders and members are very pleased to see USMCA enter into force today and look forward to many prosperous years for our country’s farmers and those in Mexico and Canada.”
The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) is set to cross its final hurdle to entry today as the three countries certify the agreement’s “entry into force.” This final step means that all required legislative and regulatory changes needed to implement the agreement have been put into place or are scheduled to take effect.
“A completed USMCA finally gets us past the uncertainty and that is welcome news to U.S. wheat growers,” said U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) Chairman and Paulding, Ohio, wheat farmer Doug Goyings. “Especially as we now see an opportunity for U.S. negotiators to take this as a gold standard agreement and launch negotiations with other countries, where U.S. wheat growers face tariff and non-tariff barriers.”
“After years of hard work, we are excited to see USMCA be put into action. USMCA is not only vital for farmers but essential to help grow the rural economy,” stated NAWG President and Cass City, Mich., farmer Dave Milligan. “The wheat industry thanks Congress and the Administration for helping to put this trade deal into effect.”
While there will be little direct change for U.S. wheat exports headed to Mexico, the agreement’s entry into force is a prime example of no news being an indicator of good news. The new agreement tightens coordination over sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) rules and other non-tariff trade issues, but most importantly it places certainty back in the trading relationship with USW’s largest export market. In the marketing year 2019/20, which ended May 31, 2020, Mexico purchased more than 3.87 million metric tons (MMT) of U.S. wheat valued at $881 million.
On the other side of the continent, Canada published the new rules for U.S. farmers hoping to deliver wheat into the Canadian grain handling system. Those new rules, allowing U.S. grown wheat brought across the border to Canadian grain elevators to be graded on a level playing field, are a significant step in furthering equal trade between the countries’ wheat growers. U.S. farmers wishing to take advantage of this new provision will need to grow wheat varieties registered in Canada’s Variety Registration System.
Meat & Poultry Industry Exports $5.5 Billion Annually to Canada & Mexico
The North American Meat Institute (Meat Institute) released the following statement on the U.S. Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA) entry into force:
“The U.S. meat and poultry industry exports $5.5 billion annually in products to Canada and Mexico,” said Meat Institute President and CEO Julie Anna Potts. “This agreement is critical to meat and poultry processors and the millions of U.S. farmers, ranchers, allied manufacturers and transportation companies in the food supply chain.”
Under the previous agreement, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), U.S. meat and poultry exports to Mexico and Canada thrived as import duties were removed and non-scientific barriers to trade were significantly reduced. The North American market for the meat and poultry industry is nearly completely integrated, and this integration is essential to its long-term viability.
Mexico and Canada are among the top four destinations for U.S. beef and pork. Since NAFTA’s entry into force in 1994, U.S. beef exports to Canada and Mexico grew from $656 million to more than $1.75 billion in 2019, while pork exports increased in value from $322 million to more than $2 billion during that same time period. In terms of volume, Canada and Mexico imported nearly 22 percent of total U.S. beef exports and 30 percent of all U.S. pork exports in 2019.
The North American Meat Institute is the leading voice for the meat and poultry industry. The Meat Institute’s members process the vast majority of U.S. beef, pork, lamb, and poultry, as well as manufacture the equipment and ingredients needed to produce the safest and highest quality meat and poultry products.
For more articles concerning the USMCA, click here.