New NAFTA Initiative Targets Swing States

The start of the new year has brought a new urgency to concluding NAFTA negotiations and getting a deal in place. The advocacy and lobbying efforts to get this deal concluded are kicking it up a notch and the agricultural sector is leading the way. There is only one confirmed round of talks planned for 2018 beginning January 23 in Montreal, Canada.

From Executive Coalition on NAFTA

With work on the Tax Bill now concluded, it is expected that NAFTA and trade will become a priority focus. Momentum to reach a successful conclusion to NAFTA negotiations has seemed to pick up following The President’s comments at the Farm Bureau Federation’s annual meeting where he noted, “On NAFTA, I am working very hard to get a better deal for our country and for our farmers and for our manufacturers. It’s under negotiation as we speak.”

As Provided by Executive Coalition on NAFTA

Data Sources:
https://apps.fas.usda.gov/gats/default.aspx
https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/statistics/historical/gands.pdf

There are new efforts planned through February to address the Hill, and now Governors and other State level leadership. Already this month there have been NAFTA awareness days taking place primarily on social media. Some of this is being led by the Farm Bureau and the Chamber of Commerce as two of the strongest sectoral pro NAFTA groups, complemented by numerous other smaller agricultural coalitions supporting these efforts. USDBC participates in most of these coalitions. USDBC has been asked to join a new coalition of agricultural trade leaders who among other efforts, will be targeting State leadership. In addition to initial outreach to Governors, the leadership of this coalition is undertaking an effort to target ten swing states with an enhanced pro NAFTA effort. New details on this effort will be available shortly and will be discussed with USDBC leadership to determine how we can best participate for maximum impact.