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USMCA now in its 3rd year

The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement was signed three years ago this week and American agriculture has continued to benefit since.

Shawna Morris is the senior vice president for trade policy with the National Milk Producers Federation and the U.S. Dairy Export Council.

“It’s a useful reminder for all of us that bipartisan supported trade agreements aren’t ancient history,” she says.  “This agreement was passed with support from both Republicans and Democrats in pretty strong measure.”

Dairy exports in the past two years have been record-breaking with Mexico, the largest dairy export market, buying $2.5 billion worth of products.

“We see that continuing to deliver ample positive benefits for dairy farmers and processors on both sides of the border,” she shares.

Morris says, however, dairy trade with Canada remains a work in progress as a trade dispute is ongoing.

“We’re very much looking forward to fall of this year when the dispute settlement panel is expected to issue a ruling in the second dairy market access case against Canada,” she says.  “We remain at this stage just as focused in year three as we were at USMCA’s launch on holding Canada’s feet to the fire.”

The National Pork Producers Council says the pork industry has also seen the benefits of improved trade with Mexico with record amounts of pork shipped the past three years.  Total pork exports to Mexico and Canada last year totaled nearly $3 billion.

The U.S. Trade Representative is in Mexico this week with her counterparts in Mexico and Canada to assess the deal and discuss issues including trade disputes on Canadian dairy access and Mexico’s biotech bans.