Farm Bureau Stresses The Importance of USMCA
Farmers and ranchers are watching the USMCA negotiations very closely.
“It's critically important for U.S. agriculture," Virginia Houston, senior director of congressional affairs for the American Farm Bureau Federation said. "Since the precursor agreement to U.S. MCA (NAFTA) went into place in the early '90s, U.S. ag exports to those two markets have absolutely skyrocketed from about $9 billion in 1993 to nearly $60 billion in 2024.”
Houston said it’s hard to put a timeline on how long the negotiations could go on or if a new agreement will be announced.
"So, the U.S. has held three rounds of bilateral negotiations with Mexico," Houston said. "Canada is not yet formally at the table, but the Canadian Trade Minister has been in Washington D.C. several times over the past few weeks to meet with his counterpart, and the hope is that these bilateral negotiations will soon turn into trilateral negotiations between the three countries."
Since the three countries did not agree to renew USMCA, the agreement now is under an annual review process. And in the event the U.S. Mexico and Canada don't agree to renew in ten years, by 2036, the USMC will be terminated.
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