National Cattlemen's Beef Association Asks Congress to Leave NAFTA Alone
The House Agriculture Committee held a hearing to highlight opportunities for agriculture in the upcoming renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement.Kendal Frazier, CEO of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association travelled to the nation's capitol from Denver to tell congress that NAFTA has served American Cattle producers well.
"Quite frankly it is difficult to improve upon unlimited duty free access to Canada and Mexico. And we are pleased to see that U.S.T.R. announced it support for continued duty-free access. Even still our message remains the same: Please do no harm and do not jeopardize our access. On average Canada and Mexico have been 2 of our top 5 export markets with approximately 1-billion each in annual sales. While Canada has been a high value market for muscle cuts. Mexico has proved to be an excellent market for things like skirts, tongues and other cuts,that Americans find less desirable."
Frazier went on to say that while there may be calls from other segments of agriculture to renegotiate NAFTA they're urging congress to focus on those areas and leave alone the terms that have greatly benefitted the cattle and beef industry.