U.S. farm groups condemn the possibility
By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com
President Trump told Mexican President Peña Nieto and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday he won’t “terminate NAFTA at this time,” but that he looks to update the agreement through renegotiation.
“It is my privilege to bring NAFTA up to date through renegotiation,” President Trump said in statement. “…I believe that the end result will make all three countries stronger and better.”
President Trump zeroed in on the trade deal during to his campaign, calling it “the worst deal maybe ever signed anywhere, but certainly ever signed in this country,” in a debate with then Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton.
Various reports on Wednesday indicated Trump was readying to sign an executive order calling for the United States’ withdrawal from NAFTA.
Prime Minister Trudeau and President Nieto heard about the potential executive order, prompting them to contact President Trump. These conversations lead to his change in position, according to reports.
Many American agricultural groups voiced their displeasure with the possibility of a withdrawal from NAFTA.
And since many chalk up Trump’s presidential victory to rural America, farmers are especially concerned about leaving the trade agreement.
“Mr. President, America’s corn farmers helped elect you,” Wesley Spurlock, National Corn Growers Association president, said in a release. “Withdrawing from NAFTA would be disastrous for American agriculture. This decision will cost America’s farmers and ranchers markets that we will never recover.”
“We are shocked and distressed to see news reports that the Trump Administration is considering an executive order to withdraw the United States from NAFTA,” Tom Sleight, president and CEO, U.S. Grains Council, said in a release. “Our top grain market (Mexico) is not a negotiating tactic.”
Ron Moore, American Soybean Association president, bluntly described the prospect of leaving NAFTA.
“Initiating a process to withdraw from NAFTA is a terrible idea…,” he said in a statement. “If any actions to announce the intent to withdraw from NAFTA are underway, the Administration should immediately abandon such plans and focus instead on ways to work with Canada and Mexico…”