North American food and agricultural exports are critical for America’s farmers and ranchers.
The North American Free Trade Agreement has provided U.S. ag producers and food manufacturers with unparalleled access to the Canadian and Mexican markets, which have now long stood as two of the top three exports markets for food and agricultural products.
NASDA urges Congress and the Administration to ratify and successfully implement the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) as well as a resolution to the Section 232 tariff issue is crucial to ensure our North American neighbors remain our closest partners.
International Trade Commission (ITC) Report on USMCA
Measuring the economic impact of USMCA is unlike anything the ITC has been asked to do regarding other trade agreements because typical ITC reports examine new trade agreements, not changes to existing trade agreements.
- The USMCA is a successor to the 25-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA);
- NAFTA eliminated all Mexican tariffs on U.S. exports;
- NAFTA and its predecessor, the U.S.-Canada Free Trade Agreement, eliminated Canadian tariffs on approximately 99 percent of all U.S. exports; and
- USMCA’s changes to NAFTA relate to trade rules, not tariffs (since there are virtually no tariffs under NAFTA) – areas that are more difficult for the ITC to quantify.
