Ag Topics Making Progress In NAFTA Talks

If you ask the American Farm Bureau, the recent round of NAFTA negotiations in Mexico City saw progress on ag issues.  AFBF Economist Veronica Nigh says negotiators wrapped up discussions regarding sanitary and phytosanitary measures.

“Those are basically the scientific rules that govern trade in plants and animals.  That chapter actually closed and that means negotiations are actually finished and when we spoke with the U.S. negotiator they were pretty happy with the results that they got out of Canada and Mexico.”

Nigh said the NAFTA chapter on technical barriers to trade, including things such as labeling, is close to being finished.  However, she said there is much work yet to do regarding market access.

“We’ve had a lot of concerns about the access that U.S. dairy farmers and poultry producers have in Canada.  We’ve asked Canada to give us significant new availability to send our products to their customers, and so far we’re having quite a lot of resistance to that.  So, that will probably be one of those topics that is concluded at the very end because it is such a thorny issue for our Canadian friends.”

Negotiators previously planned to conclude negotiations by the end of this month.  However, another round of talks is scheduled in April, and Nigh tells farmers and ranchers not to expect NAFTA to be finished this year.

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