(Missouri News Service) JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Agriculture and trade groups are voicing their concerns over President Donald Trump’s stance on immigration and his threats to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Trump’s calls to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico and possibly institute a tax on Mexican imports have led to political strains between the two countries.

The president also has said he will either renegotiate NAFTA to benefit Americans or withdraw from it altogether.

Karen Hansen-Kuhn, director of trade and global governance at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), said instead of pitting people in one country against another, NAFTA should be replaced so that it benefits all. She said rural farmers have been struggling to make a living under the current agreement.

“So much of the focus has been on producing as much as possible and depending on export market, and in the process, both because of provisions on tariffs and changes in investment rules, farmers have lost bargaining power,” she said.

Hansen-Kuhn said the Trump administration needs to take public comment and check with farmers and rural communities before making changes to NAFTA.

Hansen-Kuhn said Trump’s plan to build a wall between Mexico and the U.S. is outrageous, shortsighted and beneath the U.S. as a nation. She said America’s farm economy cannot function without those workers.

“Besides the fact that it’s a wrong headed proposal, I think it makes it pretty hard for the Mexican government to take any negotiations with the Trump administration because people there are understandably upset,” she said.

IATP also opposes parts of the Trans Pacific Partnership. But the group supports restoring “country-of-origin labeling” so consumers know where the meat they’re buying comes from, and it supports having more laws to regulate the dumping of foreign-grown fruits and vegetables into American markets, affecting local farmers’ profits.