Senate Finance Committee Evaluates USMCA Trade Deal
David Salmonsen
Senior Director, Government Affairs
Chad Smith
Associate News Service Editor, NAFB
The Senate Finance Committee hosted a hearing on the importance of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Chad Smith has more.
Smith: With the review process of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement sent to begin later this year, the Senate Finance Committee took a closer look at the deal this week. Dave Salmonsen, senior director of government affairs for the American Farm Bureau Federation, said testimony before the Committee highlighted the benefits of the agreement.
Salmonsen: Basically, talked about how good it had been for North American business, how good it had been for North American agriculture, how much it's increased our exports, how important it is to our supply chains, and I guess crucially, going in through this review process that's going to happen later this year, why it needs to continue. If they agree in July it should go forward, then it goes forward for at least another 16 years.
Smith: Salmonsen notes that while the deal has overall been positive, there are still some updates that need to be made.
Salmonsen: We never quite realized all that we wanted and was negotiated in the original USMCA agreement. We thought we negotiated some extensive dairy access with Canada, and they have grown, but not to extent we thought they would, to get the access we know we should get.
Smith: Salmonsen said it’s important to look at USMCA through a historical lens of relationships between the U.S.’s neighbors on both sides of the border.
Salmonsen: We've had such strong growth. You go back to 1993, the beginning of NAFTA, the US exported about $8 billion of ag products to Canada and Mexico combined. Now we're over $60 billion. Mexico is our number one, Canada is our number two export destination now. The best trade is to trade with the neighbors. It's the most efficient trade there is.
Smith: Chad Smith, Washington.
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