NAFTA: U.S. FARMERS FEELING THE PINCH 

"Relationships are getting frosty with our customers [in Mexico] right now. ... Mexicans are saying, 'Why are you doing this to us? We've been your best customers.'"

Thomas N. Sleight

May 2, 2017 (online publication date)

Tom Sleight is the president and CEO of the U.S. Grains Council.  As the Council's website explains, "The U.S. Grains Council ... is an inclusive organization of corn, sorghum, barley producers and agribusiness organizations."

Today's quote is taken from an excellent New York Times story that highlights just how high the stakes will be for American farmers when officials from the U.S., Canada, and Mexico sit down to renegotiate NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement. The headline of the piece is "Mexico Ready to Play the Corn Card in Trade Talks," and the article, written by Kirk Semple, makes plain that it is a pretty high card. The issue isn't just corn. "In 2016, the United States exported nearly $18 billion of agricultural products to Mexico," he writes. In this short entry, however, we shall stick with corn.

Mr. Semple notes that Mexico is America's largest foreign market for corn and that the U.S. shipped some 13.8 million tons of corn to Mexico last year, worth nearly $2.6 billion. If that is the good news, the bad news is that Mexico is now looking much more critically at corn imports from the U.S., actively courting suppliers in other countries, notably Argentina and Brazil, and reminding itself anew of the heavy job losses among Mexico's corn producers after NAFTA came into effect.

GBD's next event, scheduled for May 25, will focus in part on U.S. agriculture and NAFTA. It is likely, therefore, that we will be running a number of quotes, both before and after the 25th, on agriculture and NAFTA. It is also likely that some of those entries will include an editorial comment or two. Still, our goal is to hold back some on the NAFTA commentary for a while, and there will be none today.

NAFTA will be the subject of the next GBD event. The title is NAFTA, FROM CARS TO CARROTS: The Role of NAFTA in U.S. Agriculture and Automobile Production. This session will be held at the National Press Club from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on May 25. We will begin publishing the usual notices and updates about this event later this week. But you don't have to wait. You can ...

Register Now by clicking the link to the left and following the prompts. As usual, the general admission price is $45, but there is no charge for GBD Members, U.S. Government staff, or Press. Sign up today and join us on May 25. You don't want to miss it.