Mexican farmers are not afraid of the threat made by President-elect, Donald Trump, to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) as they will continue to sell American consumers avocado, beef, tomatoes , strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, as well as Mexican beer and tequila.
"Our exports to the United States are not in danger because they are not governed by the Free Trade Agreement," said Benjamin Grayeb Ruiz, president of the National Agricultural Council (CNA).
"Mexican food exports from here to there and the food imports from the US to here are governed by health agreements," said the businessman to Forbes Mexico.
The United States is the natural market for Mexican rural producers, who export nearly 80% of their agricultural food exports to that nation, the representative of the agricultural sector stated.
"The problem with free trade is that we need smart negotiators on our side. When we have inept people, like the ones we have, free trade is negative," said Donald Trump in an interview with 60 Minutes on September 25, 2015.
The businessman said that, if he reached the presidency, he would renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
"We will renegotiate it or cancel it," Trump said about the historic agreement between the US, Canada, and Mexico; which he referred to as a disaster.
According to Trump, in the last 15 years 60,000 factories have closed and the country has lost almost 5 million jobs. "Globalization ended the middle class," the Republican candidate said at a rally on June 28.
On November 22, 2016, Trump said he would announce his intention to renegotiate the NAFTA or to withdraw from the treaty shared with Mexico and Canada.
"We are sending more and more asparagus and peppers to the US," added Benjamin Grayeb Ruiz.
According to the president of the National Agricultural Council, each year, Mexican producers sell 2 billion dollars in tomatoes, and 1.6 billion in avocado, 1 billion in berries, i.e. strawberries, raspberry, blackberry and blueberry.
One thing is what the president-elect said and promised, and a very different thing is what he'll do when he's in office, said Grayeb Ruiz.
The CNA won't speculate on the policies that the Republican Party candidate, who won the election on November 8, will implement. "We'll have to wait to see what happens, but if they put tariffs on our exports they'll make the food more expensive for their people," he said.
The president of the National Agricultural Council said they needed to diversify markets, and that they were already "exporting more to other markets and countries, such as Japan, the European Union, Saudi Arabia, and China".
- How did you win over the US market?, Grayeb was asked.
- With our quality and health. Nowadays, Mexican agricultural food products are considered premium products throughout the world.
-Are the avocado and tomato sector looking for and analyzing other markets because of Trump's threats?
-We have to diversify, of course. The United States is our natural market. There might be an increase in tariffs, but I don't think exports will be stopped.
Source: forbes.com.mx