Open Letter – Joint Agriculture and Agri-Food Industry Letter of Support for CUSMA

Dear Prime Minister Carney and Ministers,

On behalf of leaders in Canada’s agriculture and agri-food sector, we write to echo the recent correspondence from our U.S. counterparts and express our strong support for the full 16-year renewal of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA). Our organizations represent a broad spectrum of agriculture and agri-food industries—including farmers, ranchers, processors, and agribusinesses, to name a few. These stakeholders have greatly benefited from the seamless economic integration across North America made possible by the provisions of the CUSMA agreement.

CUSMA has been instrumental in fostering a stable, integrated North American agricultural market. It has enabled Canadian farmers, ranchers, processors, and exporters to thrive through predictable access to our most important trading partners. As a result, trade between all three countries under CUSMA has led to the tripling of the value of North American agriculture and agrifood trade between 2005 and 2023, totaling approximately $400 billion CAD ($285 billion USD).

The agreement’s provisions—particularly those related to sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures, biotechnology, technical barriers to trade, and dispute settlement—have provided the predictability and stability, regulatory clarity as well as science-based frameworks necessary for innovation, investment, and growth. That is why we are calling on governments to maintain the agreement’s SPS provisions, which have improved transparency and ensured science-based treatment of agricultural products—protecting plant and animal health. The continuation of science-based regulatory cooperation is critical to ensuring timely access to agricultural innovations. We also fully support the Chapter 31 dispute settlement provisions in the Agreement which provide a mechanism for resolving barriers that otherwise disrupt market stability and growth.