Cargill Chief: NAFTA in “Good Place”

As Cargill Chair and CEO David MacLennan looks at the North American Free Trade Agreement, pulling out of the deal would have a “chilling effect on the already depressed agricultural economy.” He says new trade deals must fill the hole left by the Trump Administration’s move to exit the Trans-Pacific Partnership. He adds that it makes “no sense for Congress to try to ratify bilateral trade deals with multiple countries instead of ratifying one giant trade deal.” MacLennan was in Washington this week to testify before Congress, saying there’s not a lot that Cargill wants to change in the North American Free Trade deal. He believes agricultural markets would have an extremely negative reaction if Trump should exit the deal. “I think it’s in a pretty good place right now,” MacLennan added. Trump has vowed to ditch NAFTA if it can’t be renegotiated to be more of a benefit to U.S. interests. A move like this would also create major economic shock in Canada as well as Mexico. After consulting with many business interests in their country, Mexican officials told Reuters they expect negotiations on redoing NAFTA to begin sometime in May.

From the National Association of Farm Broadcasting news service.