Farm Trade Expert Says Trump “Playing With Fire” on NAFTA Comments

A farm trade expert says President Trump is “playing with fire” with his comments at a Phoenix rally Tuesday that he’s more likely to terminate the North American Free Trade Agreement

Major farm groups are reluctant or declining to comment on President Trump’s latest threat to withdraw from NAFTA, altogether.

But former Department of Agriculture trade advisor in the Bill Clinton Administration, Paul Drazek has this.

Drazek says President Trump’s intent to pull out of NAFTA if talks fail would be “catastrophic” for all three countries’ economies, especially in agriculture, where trade has grown exponentially. He says the threat of a pullout is a big ‘gamble’ by the president.

Without NAFTA, Drazek says tariff schedules would revert to ‘Most Favored Nation’ WTO-bound rates, placing much higher tariffs on U.S. goods going to Mexico, than on their goods coming to the U.S.

And then, there’s the potential loss of international trust in the U.S. as a future negotiating partner.

Drazek says the “fear” of a U.S. pullout from NAFTA has “galvanized” U.S. agriculture in the past and will do so again, to prevent US.. abandonment of the 17-year old agreement.

From the National Association of Farm Broadcasting News Service.