News

USMEF’s Borror: U.S./Mexico trade relations must be kept intact

U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) Economist Erin Borror says it’s important that the U.S. trade relationship with Mexico made possible by the North American Free Trade Agreement be kept intact.

“We all want to maintain what great benefits we have from our duty-free and really unrestricted access going both ways,” Borror said, in an interview provided to Brownfield Ag News by the USMEF.

Borror recently spoke at the International Meat Congress in Mexico City, and says Mexican meat industry representatives are more optimistic than they were late last year about preserving NAFTA.  That agreement, in effect since 1994, has allowed trading back and forth of beef and pork cuts specifically suited to consumers in the U.S. and Mexico.

“So they’ve been willing to pay, and they’ve really supported the market here in the U.S. for these end cuts and variety meats across both species,” said Borror, “but when you add a tariff to items that are already not cheap, certainly, then that immediately impacts demand and shipments of our products into Mexico.”

Borror says doing away with NAFTA and re-introducing tariffs would negatively impact U.S. exports and raise meat prices for Mexican consumers.

AUDIO: Erin Borror (2 min. MP3)

 

Add Comment

Your email address will not be published.


 

Stay Up to Date

Subscribe for our newsletter today and receive relevant news straight to your inbox!