Throughout his campaign - true to form - Trump was heavily critical of the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta), calling it "the worst trade deal ever made by any country in the world." Under Nafta, most tariffs on US agricultural exports have dropped to zero. Although the president had threatened to end the US participation in Nafta, he decided in April to renegotiate with Mexico and Canada rather than terminate.
William Bailey, Chair of Agribusiness at Massey University for 13 years and now Dean, College of Business and Technology, at Western Illinois University provides his perspective on how the result of Nafta negotiations could impact New Zealand agriculture.
Since President Trump took office, the process to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) has started. The outcome of this could have an impact, potentially significant, on New Zealand agricultural trade.
Reversing his pre-election position, President Trump says the Nafta treaty will remain but will be renegotiated. Both Mexico and Canada have agreed. The goal - for all three countries - is to have negotiations finished by the first quarter of 2018. Like TPP, the legislators in all three countries must approve the treaty.
Recently, and indicating the difficult environment facing Nafta negotiations, two agricultural trade issues have arisen - the US has imposed a lumber tariff on imported Canadian lumber to punish Canada for harming US dairy exports and has proposed limits on imports of Mexican sugar into the US.
