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Censky: USMCA will remove barriers Canada has had on some U.S. products

USDA Deputy Secretary Steve Censky says the USMCA signing is big because of its updating of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), especially where Canada is concerned.

“Canada still had some barriers to a number of our products, dairy, poultry, eggs, wheat,” Censky told Brownfield Ag News Wednesday, “and we now will be able to have much improved access.”

Some cattlemen’s groups are unhappy with the USMCA for the same reasons they’ve been unhappy with NAFTA, that it doesn’t include country of origin labeling provisions for imported meat. Censky tells Brownfield it’s not included because of WTO challenges to the provision from Canada and Mexico.

“So it really wasn’t in the cards to be able reinsert something that the WTO had ruled was illegal previously,” said Censky.

The Trump Administration and most U.S. farm groups have pushed to get USMCA approved. Mexico has ratified it. It still faces approval in Canada.

AUDIO: USDA Deputy Secretary Steve Censky

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