Trump’s war on NAFTA is already taking a heavy toll on U.S. farmers

As Mexico begins to look for imports elsewhere, working families suffer.

E.A. CRUNDEN
FEB 22, 2018, 2:44 PM

President Trump’s relentless crusade against the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is already creating trouble for a community the White House has long purported to champion: U.S. farmers.

An exclusive report from Reuters published on Thursday indicates that Mexican buyers are following through on their threats to shift away from U.S. suppliers. According to data from Mexico’s Agrifood and Fishery Information Service (SIAP), purchasers in the country imported ten times more corn from Brazil in 2017 — 583,000 metric tonnes, a 970 percent increase from 2016 — all purchases made in the last four months of the year.

That trend is on track to continue in 2018, with severe implications for the United States. Mexico is the top importer of U.S. corn and second biggest buyer of U.S. soybeans, making the country a crucial trade partner. But as negotiations over NAFTA have soured, Mexico has increasingly looked to South America instead.

“We bought from Brazil for two reasons,” Edmundo Miranda, commercial director of Mexican grain merchant Grupo Gramosa, told Reuters. “One, because it was competitive. Two, to see how practical and profitable it was to buy from Brazil or Argentina given the possibility of trade tariffs because of NAFTA renegotiations.”

Prime Minister  of Canada Justin Trudeau  and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto during a press conference to speak  for the negotiations of NAFTA between Mexico and Canada  at National Palace on October 12, 2017 in Mexico City, Mexico. (CREDIT: Carlos Tischler/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
NAFTA talks could run into next year over demands from White House
Finalized in 1994, NAFTA has completely changed the way trade functions in North America, bringing the three nations together in one of the world’s most prominent partnerships. The deal has critics on all sides of the political spectrum, with many arguing NAFTA has cost U.S. workers jobs and others pointing to the human cost of prioritizing free trade over “fair” trade. But NAFTA has been a crucial tool in North America for more than 20 years; even harsh critics of the deal argue it should be reformed rather than scrapped altogether.

That’s a hard sell for Trump, who has called NAFTA the “worst trade deal ever.”

NAFTA renegotiation talks began last year, amid threats from the Trump administration to blow up the deal completely. That approach quickly presented problems — neither Canada nor Mexico have been receptive to U.S. demands, with Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland taking a particularly terse tone on the “winner-take-all mindset” espoused by the White House.

Among other things, the United States is demanding a sunset clause mandating that NAFTA be renegotiated every five years; that North American automobiles contain 50 percent U.S. parts; and a rollback of dispute mechanisms. Those demands have been a non-starter, causing talks to stall and many to worry about their longterm viability.

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https://thinkprogress.org/nafta-fallout-trump-caab3aeab96b/?utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&utm_content=5a9bedd504d3013ded6305a0&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook