Arlington, VA - July 1, 2020 – The National Grain and Feed Association (NGFA) said the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which enters into force today, is a model 21st century trade accord that will contribute to growing, robust North American trade and serve as a strong foundation for the next generation of trade agreements.
NGFA commended and congratulated the U.S., Mexican and Canadian governments for negotiating a modernized North American trade agreement, as well as the legislative chambers in all three countries that ratified it by strong, bipartisan votes.
For grains, oilseeds and their derived products, as well as animal food, the USMCA “preserves and strengthens market access while providing effective new mechanisms and safeguards to resolve sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) issues that in the past periodically have disrupted trade,” said NGFA President and CEO Randy Gordon.
“But the accord’s longest-lasting and most important impact may well be the solid framework it provides for the United States to negotiate significant new trade agreements with other countries, including Japan, Vietnam, the United Kingdom, Kenya and other nations on the African continent.”
NGFA noted that in addition to maintaining a tariff-free environment for most agricultural products, USMCA will help address non-tariff barriers, which are among the biggest challenges that distort and disrupt cross-border trade flows.
Among other benefits, USMCA contains provisions that provide for: greater levels of regulatory coherence and cooperation; expediting resolution of adverse import checks; reducing the likelihood of trade disruptions in products of agricultural biotechnology; providing for expedited technical consultations to resolve SPS disputes; and requiring that SPS standards be grounded in science, based on proper risk assessments and implemented using prudent risk-management techniques.
Read more about USMCA here.
NGFA will be working with its member companies and the U.S. government to monitor compliance with the agreement.
For more information, please contact Sarah Gonzalez at sgonzalez@ngfa.org