USMEF Statement on U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement
On Sept. 30, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland announced that the U.S. and Canada, along with Mexico, had reached an agreement in principle on a modernized trade agreement.
In response to the announcement, U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) President and CEO Dan Halstrom issued the following statement:
According to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), all food and agricultural products that have zero tariffs under NAFTA will remain at zero tariffs under the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. While this is very positive news for the U.S. red meat industry, it is important to note that the retaliatory duties imposed by Mexico on U.S. pork and by Canada on U.S. prepared/cooked beef products remain in place. These duties were imposed in response to U.S. Section 232 tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum from Mexico and Canada, and these tariffs also remain in place. USMEF hopes to see this issue resolved soon, so that all U.S. red meat exports will once again have duty-free access to Mexico and Canada.
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USMEF media contact:
Joe Schuele jschuele@usmef.org 303-547-0030Posted Oct. 2, 2018