SACRAMENTO — Calling for continued efforts to break down barriers to agricultural trade, the California Farm Bureau Federation expressed disappointment today in President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement.
“Trade in food and farm products benefits both rural and urban areas of California,” CFBF President Paul Wenger said. “For example, farm products represent the top export from the Port of Oakland, and agreements such as the TPP would allow us to reach more potential customers in key Pacific Rim markets.”
Wenger said he hopes the administration will follow up with policies aimed at opening foreign markets for American farm products.
“We operate in a world where it’s much easier for crops from other nations to enter the U.S. than for American farm goods to be sold elsewhere,” he said. “We will encourage the administration to work on smaller-scale agreements that would allow American farmers to trade with other nations on an equal basis.”
Wenger noted the administration has also discussed reopening the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico.
“If NAFTA is reopened, its agricultural provisions should be left alone,” he said. “We don’t want successful agricultural trade to be caught in any conflict about other portions of the agreement.”
The California Farm Bureau Federation works to protect family farms and ranches on behalf of more than 48,000 members statewide and as part of a nationwide network of more than 6.2 million Farm Bureau members.
–California Farm Bureau Federation
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