“Under these new objectives, a new NAFTA will give our farmers (and) ranchers … new opportunities to grow their exports and reclaim American prosperity,” a summary of the United States’ NAFTA goals says.
The USTR would like to see NAFTA renegotiated in a number of specific areas – including agricultural goods. Specifically, the agency wants to:
- “Maintain existing reciprocal duty-free market access for agricultural goods,
- “Expand competitive market opportunities for U.S. agricultural goods in NAFTA countries, substantially equivalent to the competitive opportunities afforded foreign exports into the U.S. market, by reducing or eliminating remaining tariffs,
- “Seek to eliminate non-tariff barriers to U.S. agricultural exports including discriminatory barriers, restrictive administration of tariff rate quotas, other unjustified measures that unfairly limit access to markets for U.S. goods, such as cross subsidization, price discrimination, and price undercutting,
- “Provide reasonable adjustment periods for U. S. import sensitive agricultural products, engaging in close consultation with Congress on such products before initiating tariff reduction negotiations, and
- “Promote greater regulatory compatibility to reduce burdens associated with unnecessary.”
The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) also released a list of priorities it would like to see considered during NAFTA renegotiations. One of their main goals is improving dispute settlement procedures for fresh fruits, vegetables and horticultural products.
“U.S. agriculture depends upon a growing international economy that provides opportunities for farmers and ranchers to sell their products, and a modernized NAFTA will help expand those market opportunities for America’s farm and ranch businesses,” Jason Perdue, a producer from York, Nebraska, told the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade on behalf of the AFBF.
NAFTA negotiations are scheduled to begin August 16.
Read more at farms.com
