Beef Industry Concerned There's Little to Gain in the Beef Business Through NAFTA Renegotiations

 

Yesterday, our new US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, gave Congress formal notice of the Trump administration’s intentions to fulfill one of President Trump’s campaign promises and renegotiate the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). However, Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director Ron Hays reports that the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, in tandem with its Canadian and Mexican counterparts, sent a joint letter to the presidents of the three nations involved, addressing their concern that the beef business would have little to gain from NAFTA renegotiations.

 

“Recent statements about the possible dissolution of NAFTA or potential renegotiation of NAFTA are deeply concerning to us because of the unnecessary risk it places on our producers,” the letter states. “While there may be general agreement among the countries to improve some parts of the NAFTA trade framework, we urge you to recognize that the terms of the agreement affecting cattle producers are strongly supported as they currently exist and should not be altered.”

 

The groups also urged Presidents Trump, Trudeau, and Nieto to reject efforts to use NAFTA as a platform to resurrect failed policies, especially the misguided mandatory country-of-origin labeling policy that was the law of the United States for over seven years.