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NPPC White Paper highlights importance of NAFTA

A new report from the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) underscores what’s at stake for U.S. pig farmers if the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) gets terminated.

NPPC vice president of global government affairs Nick Giordano says their White Paper on NAFTA points out Canada and Mexico account for nearly 30 percent of all U.S. ag exports.

Should negotiations between the three countries fall apart, he tells Brownfield it would devastate the pork industry.

“We’re more dependent than ever on trade, and Mexico and Canada are two of our top markets.  So any sort of disruption is going to have an immediate translation to the producer’s bottom line.  And God forbid if NAFTA was terminated, we’d have a catastrophe on our hands.”

Iowa State University economist Dermot Hayes calculates if Mexico were to retaliate to U.S. withdrawal from NAFTA with a 20 percent duty on U.S. pork, it would incur a nearly $1.7 billion aggregate loss for producers.

Giordano says recent developments on the NAFTA front are encouraging for agriculture.

“Whether it’s coming from the White House, Secretary Perdue, or Ambassador Lighthizer.  And we’re hopeful that what we get in this NAFTA modernization is a deal that’s better for the United States and as good or better for the U.S. pork industry.”

NPPC’s White Paper on NAFTA says since the deal took effect, U.S. exports to Mexico alone have grown from $50 billion in 1994 to $231 billion last year.

It also mentions NAFTA has helped improve U.S. relations with Canada and Mexico, and provided better regional investment and supply chains.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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