Slight Majority of Americans Favor NAFTA

New findings from the Pew Research Center show 56 percent of Americans believe the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is good for the United States. Just one-third, 33 percent, of respondents to a Pew Research poll say the trade deal is bad for the United States. The study surveyed more than 1,500 adults at the end of October as …

NAFTA Talks Again Underway

Round five of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) talks are set to begin Friday (11/17/2017) in Mexico City. However, Politico points out that talks will unofficially begin Wednesday (11/14/2017). Much of the two-day prelude to the official talks are expected to focus on textiles, labor, cross-border trade and intellectual property. There’s little expectation of talks regarding agriculture, at …

Agriculture Watching NAFTA Talks Closely

The NAFTA renegotiations provide an opportunity to improve agricultural trade across partner countries. However, recent rhetoric and delays in the renegotiation are giving way to rising concerns over the trade deal’s future. Missouri Farm Bureau President Blake Hurst says U.S. agriculture depends on NAFTA. He says recent rhetoric regarding trade is troubling to farmers, especially after Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, …

House Ag Committee Leaders Call for NAFTA Conclusion

House Ag Committee leaders and a group of farm lobbyists are calling on the Trump Administration to not withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The Hagstrom Report says they’re also asking the White House to finish negotiations quickly to avoid potential declines in agricultural exports. Texas Republican and House Ag Committee Chair Michael Conaway and Minnesota Democrat …

Trump’s Aggressive Trade Strategy Both Defended and Criticized in Farm Circles

President Trump’s aggressive trade strategy of threatening to pull out of existing agreements without big concessions to the U.S. is being both defended and criticized in farm circles. President Trump is again taking a hard line with U.S. trading partners in Asia, after first dumping TPP and now threatening to ditch NAFTA. It’s a strategy that has many, especially in …

NAFTA Negotiators Extend Length of Next Round

A Bloomberg report says negotiators discussing the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) will begin next week’s round in Mexico City two days early. The goal is to give themselves more time to discuss a large number of issues surrounding the two-decade-old pact. Negotiators last met in Washington D.C., for the previous round of talks. Two officials close to the …

Ag Struggling to Make Voice Heard in NAFTA Talks

The American agricultural lobby thought that President Trump’s trade politics would spare farmers and others in agriculture. Politico’s Morning Ag Report says it was the rural and red-state turnout that put Trump over the top in the presidential election. Trump has threatened to issue a formal intent to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and agriculture can’t …

Agri View: Trade Policies

Everett Griner talks about President Trumps’ trade policies disturbing in today’s Agri View.       If Donald Trump were running for President now, I don’t think he would enjoy the support he got from America’s farmers. He has pushed for changes in import/export trade that farmers don’t like. But, when he started to mess with that recently established trade …