(Politico)

As the fourth round of NAFTA talks continue, several agriculture and business groups are increasingly concerned about the future of the 23-year old agreement. Politico’s Morning Ag Report says a large group of organizations, including the American Farm Bureau, National Pork Producers Council, the Coalition of Services Industries, and many others hit Capitol Hill on Wednesday.

The goal was to enlist lawmakers in their campaign against the Trump administration approach to trade policy. The stakes are especially high for ag exporters. Should the agreement be terminated, the resulting increases in tariffs would be low for many economic sectors.

However, farmers would see a 25 percent tariff on beef shipments, 45 percent on turkey and some dairy products, and tariffs as high as 75 percent on chicken, potatoes, and high-fructose corn syrup sent to Mexico. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said the danger of a NAFTA withdrawal to ag producers was “an empty threat.”

He says, “As far as I can tell, there’s not a world oversupply of agricultural products. Unless countries are prepared to have their people go hungry or change their diets, I think it’s more of a threat to try and frighten the agricultural community.”

Two House Democrats who’ve been past critics of trade agreements, Bill Pascrell of New Jersey and Lloyd Doggett of Texas, are calling on Republicans to hold a hearing on the impact of a potential NAFTA withdrawal.

(NAFB)

U.S. negotiators officially offered the “sunset clause” proposal on Wednesday during the North American Free Trade Agreement negotiations. The sunset clause would bring NAFTA to an end after five years unless the three countries involved agree to extend it. Two people familiar with the talks told Bloomberg that the proposal was made to a smaller group of negotiators.

The White House declined to comment on NAFTA talks and the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office didn’t respond to a Bloomberg request for a comment. Canada and Mexico both rejected the idea when Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross brought it up a month ago.

Both countries say it would create so much uncertainty for business that it would hurt long-term investments. The trade pact already has an exit provision. A country can leave NAFTA simply by giving a six-month notice to the other two parties.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is warning against “poison-pill” proposals, saying they could doom the entire agreement. Secretary Ross was asked about the sunset clause during an event on Wednesday and said, “that’s our proposal.”

(USDA)

A new report suggests the Department of Agriculture should develop a new system for gathering information for crop reports and other surveys. USDA contracted with the National Academy of Sciences three years ago to audit how USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service collects data.

The report highlighted that NASS could make several changes over time to improve the accuracy of its reports, as well as develop guidelines that make data collection more transparent and reproducible, according to DTN. Specifically, USDA asked the academy to look at how NASS does county-level crop estimates as well as cash-rent estimates.

The report says a vision for NASS in 2025 should focus on changing the Agricultural Statistics Board to models that incorporate multiple data sources. NASS uses multiple data sources through the board. However, the report says the current process is” inherently subjective and neither transparent nor reproducible.” A USDA NASS spokesperson called the report a “real opportunity” for improvements.

(NAFB)

If the North American Free Trade Agreement survives the renegotiation effort, The United Kingdom may be interested in joining the pact. Reuters-London reports Britain could join a formal trade alliance with the United States, Canada and Mexico if the European Union refuses to finalize a post-Brexit trade deal by 2019.

Reuters says that if Britain did join NAFTA, exporters to the EU and North America would have to produce goods in accordance with the two separate sets of rules, according to trade analysts. Britain, whose regulation has been within the EU for over 40 years, would also have to shift towards the North American model for trade.

That comes as the BBC reports the profitability of the average U.K. farm could be cut in half after Brexit. In 2014, the U.K. was reported to rely on the EU for 27 percent of its food imports. Just four percent of food items in the U.K. originated from North America, and 54 percent of food consumed in the U.K., originated in the U.K.

(NAFB)

President Donald Trump called Canada’s Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, a “great friend” as tensions rise amidst the North American Free Trade Agreement negotiations this week. However, as Bloomberg reports, Trump showed no signs of retreat regarding NAFTA, saying “It’s possible we won’t be able to make a deal and it’s possible we will.”

Farm and industry groups were raising alarms this week amidst plans for agriculture negotiations during the current round of discussion, and talks that the U.S. may be pushing it’s NAFTA partners to walk away from the agreement. The American Farm Bureau Federation this week joined Farmers for Free Trade to defend the agreement.

The agenda for the current round of negotiations includes discussions on financial services, labor rules, agriculture, digital trade, and investment and energy, according to the agenda. Trudeau met with Trump to “emphasize the importance” of the agreement to the three member countries. Trudeau also met with the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee.

(USDA) Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue welcomed two leaders to his staff at the Department of Agriculture Tuesday. Perdue swore in Steve Censky as Deputy Secretary of Agriculture, and Ted McKinney as USDA’s new Under Secretary of Agriculture for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs. Perdue says Censky and McKinney are “two experienced, prepared, and capable nominees,” who will provide steady leadership at USDA. With the ceremony, Censky officially departed his job as CEO of the American Soybean Association after 23 years, 21 of which he spent as head of the organization. ASA President Ron Moore said that due to the swearing-in of Censky, ASA has officially opened the search for its next CEO. The Indiana Department of Agriculture named its deputy director as interim director last week, following the Senate confirmation of McKinney to the USDA post.

(NAFB)

Following a weekend meeting in Canada, House Agriculture Chairman Mike Conaway said the North American Free Trade Agreement is “too important to screw up.” Conaway took part in a delegation of House members that focused on agricultural trade in a discussion with Canadian officials before this week’s round of NAFTA talks. In a statement, Conaway said the goal of the meeting was to ensure Canada understand that U.S. agriculture “has a keen interest in getting NAFTA done and done right.” Conaway said U.S. agriculture would continue “to stay at the negotiators elbow” throughout the process. Conaway last week echoed comments from Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue that the NAFTA negotiations were not moving fast enough. Representative David Rouzer (ROU-zer) of North Carolina joined Conaway in Canada, saying the meeting gave the U.S. an “opportunity to demonstrate the importance of the deal for U.S. agriculture.”