USMCA Doubts
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson. U.S. Trade Ambassador Jamieson Greer says it’s likely the July 1st deadline to renegotiate the USMCA will pass without a final agreement.
Greer told a Hudson Institute forum that they received 15 thousand comments on the U.S.-Mexico Canada-Agreement …
GREER … “Almost everyone suggested changes to the agreement. President Trump has made clear that he is dissatisfied with a lot of the outcomes of USMCA.”
But what about the decision to either extend USMCA another 16 years or enter annual renewal cycles? …
GREER … “I think that we aren’t probably going to be able to resolve all issues by July 1st, but I think that we are on track to resolve many of them and to move as quickly as we can.”
But Greer says that could happen over a period of ten years.
Greer’s Ag Negotiator, Julie Callahan, told Agri-Pulse recently that some Ag issues must be dealt with in separate talks …
CALLAHAN … “Canada’s dairy TRQs is a very bilateral issue. Mexico has less interest in that, so it really is a discussion between the United States and Canada.”
While Greer told Hudson …
GREER … “We do have to have some kind of a protocol with Mexico, and one with Canada, separately, I think. (Moderator—‘Like, dairy’s a bigger issue with Canada than Mexico.’) It’s a much bigger issue, yeah.”
Greer argued the U.S. trade deficit is coming down because of the president’s tariffs and trade deals.
