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Brancel: Mexico doesn’t want to lose NAFTA

Wisconsin’s Agriculture Secretary says Mexico’s agriculture leaders don’t want to lose NAFTA.

Ben Brancel tells Brownfield the Mexican officials he talked to during last week’s trade mission are afraid of NAFTA ending because it’s been very beneficial to Mexican producers.  “In the 1990’s, they didn’t sell enough products to the United States to even warrant having records on it.  Last year, they sold 25.8 billion dollars worth of products to the United States, so it’s become very significant for them, and they’re afraid that it’s going away.”

Brancel says both Mexico and the U.S. realize there are areas within NAFTA that need to be reviewed.  “For instance, NAFTA talks about free and open trade between Canada, Mexico, and the U.S., but then you get ‘organic.’  What is organic? How do you define organic? How does Mexico manage to give us assurances that what we’re really receiving is organic?”

Brancel discussed trade issues while leading a Wisconsin delegation to a trade show in Aguascalientes, Mexico, where Wisconsin companies offered feed ingredients, mechanical products, genetics, and plenty of cheese.

Producers in Mexico and the U.S. are concerned, as President Donald Trump has said he wants to re-open NAFTA, but it’s unclear what issues he will pursue when that happens.