U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer opened NAFTA renegotiation talks with a tough but optimistic tone, saying NAFTA has fundamentally failed.
“We look forward to productive discussions over the next several months.”
The first round with Canada and Mexico ended with an agreement to move quickly.
Several dozen negotiating topics reportedly were covered, including sanitary and phytosanitary rules in ag trade.
Arkansas Farm Bureau president Terry Veach tells Agri-Pulse that discussion closely followed provisions in the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) including protections for trade in biotech crops. Trump withdrew the U.S. from the TPP, but Mexico and Canada remain in that agreement. Veach was an industry observer in the first round of talks.
The second round of NAFTA talks is the first five days of September in Mexico City. That's followed on Sept. 23-27 in Canada and another round in Washington, D.C., in October.
Source: brownfieldagnews.com