NAFTA A Far Cry From a Done Deal

A NAFTA "handshake" deal with Mexico expected late this week still needs Canada to rejoin talks but would be a ‘huge' watershed for American agriculture, if a final deal comes together.  Former USDA trade chief Paul Drazek said a preliminary NAFTA deal with Mexico makes it much less likely, President Trump will pull out of the deal.

“The fact that NAFTA lives on for agriculture, it’s been a good agreement for farmers and they all know it. And it would have been a real, real, negative economically for the sector had this thing failed and the U.S. pulled out.”

President Trump called the pending agreement with Mexico “fair.”  But, as Drazek points out, Canada is still waiting in the wings.

“We still have to bring in Canada to the fold, they haven’t been negotiating at all.  There are still some key issues there.  And you know, is this going to be, whatever is agreed to, trilaterally, is this going to be acceptable to U.S. Congress?”

The revolving five-year NAFTA sunset the U.S. sought is still under negotiation and Drazek says it may not be settled until the Canadians come back into the talks.

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