The U.S. Senate on Jan. 16 passed the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement by a vote of 89-10. The agreement now moves to President Donald Trump’s desk for a signature.
Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue released a statement following the passage, touting it as a great sign for farmers.
“We’ve long waited for this day and now USMCA will finally head to the president’s desk,” Secretary Perdue said. “The passage of USMCA is great news for America’s farmers and ranchers. With Congressional consideration now complete, our farmers and ranchers are eager to see the president sign this legislation and begin reaping the benefits of this critical agreement. I thank President Trump and Ambassador (Robert) Lighthizer for successfully delivering an improved and modern trade agreement and working so hard for the people of American agriculture to get this deal across the finish line.”
The USMCA is critical for U.S. growers because Canada and Mexico are the first and second largest export markets for U.S. food and agricultural products, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. USDA reports that more than $39.7 billion of total food and agricultural exports were sold to those countries in 2018, supporting more than 325,000 American jobs.
“All food and agricultural products that have zero tariffs under the North American Free Trade Agreement will remain at zero tariffs,” according to the USDA. “Since the original NAFTA did not eliminate all tariffs on agricultural trade between the United States and Canada, the USMCA will create new market access opportunities for United States exports to Canada of dairy, poultry, and eggs, and in exchange, the United States will provide new access to Canada for some dairy, peanut and a limited amount of sugar and sugar-containing products.”
The key provisions, according to USDA included:
• Increasing dairy market access in Canada for a wide variety of products. Canada agreed to eliminate the “unfair” Class 6 and 7 milk-pricing programs that allowed Canadian farmers to undersell U.S. farmers.
• For the first time the agreement specifically addressed agricultural biotechnology, including new and emerging tech like gene editing. This will support innovation and reduce trade-distorting policies.
• It sets a more rigorous process for establishing geographical indicators, and lays out more factors to consider when trying to determine whether a term is a common name.
• All three countries will strengthen science-based sanitary/phytosanitary measures to protect human, animal and plant health while improving the flow of trade.
• U.S. poultry producers will have greater access to Canada for their chicken, turkey and eggs.
• Canada will terminate its discriminatory wheat grading system, allowing U.S. varieties that are registered in Canada to receive reciprocal grading treatment, instead of being classified as “feed wheat.”
• Wine and spirits will see more transparency and reduced technical barriers to sales, distribution, labeling and certification.
Jennifer M. Latzke can be reached at 620-227-1807 or [email protected].
