Within your constitutional powers. Watch on cspan and cspan. Org , and the city using the free cspan radio app. Listen using the free cspan radio app. President s of the the largest farm and ranch associations in north america held a News Conference to voice support for the north American Free trade agreement known as nafta, which is being renegotiated this month by the United States, canada, and mexico. This is 50 minutes. Good afternoon. Under of policy communications at the america i am dr. Of policy communication i am the director of policy communications at the American Farm bureau federation. Begin remediation yesterday that is more than 20 years old. Much is at stake, particularly for agriculture could today we have with us the three heads of the largest farm organizations in canada, mexico, and the united. They are the president of the American Farm bureau federation, the president of the Canadian Federation of agriculture, and federation inhe mexico. These men will give their views of what should happen with modernization of nafta, some for no matter what you may have heard, there is still a great deal of our three nations have in common and can agree upon. The three president s will give their opening remarks. After that, well have a sign of a letter to the ambassador as well as the minister and secretary, chief negotiator for the treaty. After that, we will open the floor to questions. If you have a question here at the press club, please wait for the microphone so that people on the phone can hear the question that you are asking. The floor is yours. Well, thank you, will, and thank all of you for attending today. This is a very important day for american agriculture, canadian agriculture, and mexican agriculture, and we come today to show our unity together. I want to thank these two for being with us today and joining us in talking about modernization of nafta trade treaty. I want you gentlemen and everyone in the room to know that american former senators value our trade relationships with our two closest neighbors. Canada and mexico are more than just close. They are our number one and number three customers of the United States, agricultural products, exports. And they are the top two supplies of u. S. Agricultural imports. Relations arerade important to all of us on the stage here. We have a vital interest in helping our neighbors make improvements, our negotiators make improvements, but also to do no harm to the gains that we have gained in nafta. We are committed to preserving and extending upon the gains agriculture has achieved, and ensure a modernized nafta continues to be a Success Story for north America Farmers and ranchers. Enforcementtimely of trade agreements and prompt resolutions to disputes that might arise in this new modernization tree. Usda criticsld u. S. Agricultural exports will total 137 billion this year. The forecast of agriculture billion,s 114. 5 giving us a trade surplus in agricultural products. And yes, i said a surplus, 22. 5 billion. For all the criticisms of our trade deals, we in agriculture want our negotiators to know the trade deals and open markets are largely beneficial to american , and to theranchers communities that we live in and do our business in and raise our families. There will be opportunities during these negotiations to usk about issues concerning with commodities. But it is important to enter ande talks with cool heads focus on the common goals that we have. The three groups that are here today agreed that trade helps all of our citizens and all of our farmers and ranchers in our countries, and we look forward to a better agreement for the future that is modernized for modern agriculture. Thank you. Ill . Next, we have the president of the Canadian Federation of agriculture. Thank you, will, and thank you to the American Farm bureau for the hospitality. We had the opportunity to have lunch before this press conference, and i think it gave us an opportunity to exchange. Iews on where things are going and i think between these 2, i think we realize that there is a lot of Common Ground we can build on. This morning we heard the ministers and secretaries make opening remarks on of the renegotiation of nafta. I think it is interesting in the opening comments, we heard the word agriculture a number of times. With our leadership in all three countries recognizing that agriculture is important, we the farm leaders of all three countries must insist that the voices of the farmers and ranchers must be heard as these negotiations proceed. I thank the press for coming out. I think this is an issue of great importance to the economies of all three countries. A, American Farm bureau, and cna in mexico decided several weeks ago that it would be appropriate for us to try and find a Common Ground that we had when we move forward. And we have prepared a joint statement and a subsequent letter to our negotiators based on the principle of do no harm. For agriculture, nafta has been good. If we look at the changes since 1994, trade between our three countries has grown next financially. We must build on the success. With canada, u. S. , we have 56 billion in reciprocal trade, and the u. S. Has a slight surplus at this time. With mexico and canada, we have 4. 2 billion in reciprocal trade, and again, mexico has a slight surplus. Candidate is the top export market for 29 u. S. States. As far leaders can we have outlined Common Ground as far leaders, we have outlined Common Ground for a path forward. There are five areas we have agreed on. One is a focus on increased and improved regulatory alignment. The second area is looking at improving the flow of goods at border crossings. The third is further alignment of sciencebased sanitary measures a sanitary measures, and that fancy term, human, plant, and Animal Health issues. Elimination of nonsciencebased technical areas of trade is another area we need to concentrate on. In adapting the agreement to Technology Advances that have been made since 1994. In 1994, the internet, digital economies, those types of things were not even thought of. In closing, i would like to echo what was sent this morning. We are neighbors, partners, and friends. We have a relationship based on trust and understanding. Agriculture has been a success. And remember, do no harm. Thank you. And finally, president of the Consejo Nacional agropecuario. Bureau,can farm members federation na, we have the privilege of our three secretaries of , sonny purdue from the United States, mclaren from , they have been sending very good signals of work. Ogether as a team first of all, at the georgia meeting, where the three of them , and recently in perdue and ther. Other together. Greatare secretaries are examples of construction and dutystandable of the vital inprimary production todaylity and respect, as we are trusting ourselves that residents of the agricultural sector. I want to remember you that the National Council of agriculture mexico,ts the 80 of and the 75 of the exports. As well as one million growers , recognizing the United States and canada as great partners complementary. I and the Third Generation of agricultural growers, and we have always been an american or canadian commercial partner. We understand that the primary production is vital for the economy of the three countries. We are the commercial block more successful of the world. And we will be together more competitive. Stronger ties in. Orth america we can go out to countries, new markets in asia, south america, and europe. The National Council of agriculture is in favor of product of more ity, and thei National Council of agriculture will be looking always to maintain the competitive in the markets. We are committing to looking for better marketing in access into the three countries. The protocols should be treated in order of the risk of each one. Naftadernization of to be make the stronger trade in the region and contribute to development of the partners. Duval, iennett, mr. Celebrate that the true president s of the private sector for agriculture of the three countries, we are together the main concerns , and we have a very clear from the point of view of mexico, and we have been , butng with the government we are not agreed to the Exchange Point for any other economic activity. Im very thankful for all of you being here, especially with the schedules, and you can count on mexico and the National Council of agriculture to build together. Thank you very much. Thank you, gentlemen. He will now have a ceremonial signing of the letter, again, to the ministers. Like n, if youd gentlemen, if youd like to sign. [applause] thank you, gentlemen. Thanks to the staff, too. Thank you very much. Ok, questions . Very good, thank you, sir. So [laughter] so with that, we can open up the floor to questions. So thewait for the mics people on the phone can hear you. Who has a microphone . There you are. Yes, go ahead. Just to start off, i would like to get your reaction to bob like kaisers Opening Statement today when she said that although nafta had benefited u. S. Farmers in border communities, it had fundamentally failed many, many americans, and would have to have major improvement, and that the tweaking and updating a few chapters would not be acceptable. Concern what concerns does that raise in terms of the Agricultural Community and the possible tradeoffs to get the changes shes talking about . It concernscourse is that we would have that mentioned upfront, but you know, our stand is that we do no harm. This has been a good trade treaty for north american agriculture, from mexico to canada, and we want to make sure we have that voice heard loud and clear that we dont want to harm the gains that we have had in it. The president of the United States is my president , too, and is the president of the farmers and ranchers across the country, who played a major role in getting him elected. He promised not only to make trade treaties warfare for more fair for the american people, but all american people. I dont see him doing harm to this treaty that has been good for agriculture. Just on that statement, too, while there might be some concern, there is also positive news for agriculture in the fact that it was very much singled out that agriculture was a shining example of how the success could work, and i think back to mr. Duvals statement about do no harm. We have to ensure that that message is loud and clear. , that is whyn part the three of us decided very quickly that we needed to make a statement to the negotiators that we have got something that is worth dont do something in the negotiations that is going to undermine that. That is going to undermine not only farmers and ranchers, but also all of the jobs that are related to farming and ranching in all three countries. To be at the press. Onference today in the morning i was very glad to hear the ambassador mentioned several times agriculture, because that means the importance we have ,ith products like corn, soy recognizing the importance of the sector for the United States. And i think that is a very good foral from the beginning the coming negotiations of our countries. These identify your organization. Rexam from bloomberg radio. Mention was made of improving regulation on the basis of science and abandoning other tradetions of barriers to that are not technical. Would you elaborate on what you mean by that . Get the impression from the american side that you all would he better off if trump had never raised this issue in the first place. Would you tell me about that . If i may, i will pass the microphone to my colleague to our ranks me as former president of the press club. Alexei was recently in florida talking about some of the concerns and a have a different perspective on nafta. I directconcerned and this question about some of the concerns florida growers have about mexican shipments, labor , wages in mexico, food safety standards. For mr. Devault, im wondering if theres anything you can do to address those concerns without putting bad precedents for u. S. Farmers . Im wondering what areas you see that wouldscussion address some of the concerns of florida growers. Thats like eight questions, good luck. The firstspeak to gentleman. The first john was talking about sciencebased and technical barriers. That can be a number of things. Harmonizing regulations to the approval of rides and herbicides and making sure the scientific processes are the same so we dont have to go through a separate series of hoops on the approval of all types processes. You talk about technical barriers. One of the things we discussed at lunch was the idea of inspection services. An inspection approved in one country, one inspection should suffice. It should not have to be reinspected every time it moves across the border. All of those types of things will streamline costs for producers and for the numerous products. That goes back to the theory of building on what has been working and trying to streamline a lot of the process on regulation and technical air so if we get closer to harmonization across all three countries. I hope that answers your western. Division of exit go is we fair rulesrade with of commerce. Topic in the transferring weight and based on science. That our congress inntains the 19th chapter the controversial solution. In the labor topics, we consider each country should the addressing their own things. Mexico has an agreement with the International Organization of hard in is working very all of this processes. When it comes to the farmers in florida, the northeastern Dairy Farmers and the upper midwest, of course we have some concerns. What could i do to help change theseark out three of organizations have very Good Communications with our government. Mostly throughis the secretarys office and we will keep him informed where we that weere are issues can try to solve. Deciding thatto we are a region of these three countries and for us to sound together as a strong region is important to show the rest of the world and it will be important in future negotiations and other trade treaties. We have to set our feelings aside and tell each other that we have problems and we do have a problem in florida and we do a problem in the northeast and we do have a problem in certain areas. Then lets have some rules around the trade treaty that we haves with decisions on how we solve these problems because time means money to our farmers. We cannot afford for them to be in limbo when theres a problem. We have to bind together as a region and discuss what our problems are with each other and find solutions and do it quickly. I will go into an analysis statebystate. Im interested in having their in the Global Vision of the trade between mexico, the United States, and canada, mexico has winners and losers. The cilia, the corn, and that , theres axico, rice serious problem of competition. Mexico is sending salads, some meat and we are receiving a very important volume of meat and grains. You mentioned chapter 19 dispute resolution. I think with any trade agreement, it is almost mandatory that there be a mechanism in place to deal with these disputes and having a trade agreement that does not have some type of format for how you dissolve how you resolve dispute is creating a trade agreement that does not have any enforceability. From our perspective and the canadian government perspective, dispute resolution is critical as it goes forward. Im penny starr with right martin news. On one of the lists here, you talk about the improved flow at border crossings. Can you talk about how that its in with Border Security in your concerns about that . I can start to make canadian perspective. I live very close to the u. S. Border. Is of the issues we find holed up at the border, particularly with heritable products, a delay of several hours and you go from having a very valuable cargo to one that is worth nothing. Finding ways to get a preapproved clearance, preinspection, electronic filing, using all the new technology so when the truck hits the border, everyone is preapproved. Thezing in the world world you live in, you have to have clearance. I was at the airport and i saw people going through the line that preapproved and they go through a lot asked her than the people that do not have an access card, so a similar type of approach to goods being transported across the border as we are doing at border entries for people. Immigrationto the issue, thats something im not an expert in and neither is my organization we would leave that to the experts to handle that, but can speak to the issue that was just brought up and it was important that when we deliver our products to our neighbors that come in very good quality and that quality is definitely determined by how quickly and swiftly it can get through the borders. I believe we have the commitment of national security. And breakthroughs in the field,he orient certification transparency on the process and expedited supervision at the and and that would give us the security to safety. Te to the i understand we have some questions on the phone. If you could that the speaker on, name and organization, please . Fromfirst question comes carl with reuters. Please received with your question. But hello and thank you for taking my call. Interview jonah and concerned about the Trump Administrations fixation on reducing manufacturing trade how that might hurt and again to us that have course,d nafta . Of we carry that concern and first westion was close to that, have a concern but our approaches do no harm on what we have gained of point. We went from eight ilion dollars worth of trade to 38 billion worth trade during the lifetime of nafta and we want to do no harm to that and it possible, make it even better for all three countries agriculture wise. We understand there are manufacturing problems and we will leave that up experts to have that conversation and continue to impress on them that to use us ast them a trading tool and do harm to the Agriculture Sector in all three countries. Isthe only thing i would add the fact that by and large, agriculture trade is much more allens than manufacturing trade is. Want to see agriculture sacrifice because of some other sector. Weve done a good job taking advantage of opportunities, so why should we be penalized for ago, we knowin x there is an obsession about the deficit. But we want to say mexico represents only 8 of the deficit. Assume we can say at is from north American Companies that are exporting to the United States. I know made in mexico has only 40 of components made in the region. Other parties have an integration of 8 to 12 . Sector, we have a lot of canadian and United StatesCompanies Investing in mexico. Mexicoe exporting from to their own countries and in the change value, in any case of the exporters, into the destination country, either canada or the United States, there is an important commercial partner for investors or thank you. On for a question im catherine with politico. Both the u. S. And mexico have said they want to finish negotiations as soon as possible, ideally before the end of the year because of Upcoming Elections in both countries. Could you comment on whether thats a realistic timeline . Also if you could comment on those longer negotiations of they are drawn out how it would impact agriculture markets. Thank you. Mexico has two plans. One is to conclude renegotiation of the agreement as soon as possible. Doubt the sense of the free trade agreement. Ideal would be we would be finished at the end of january. Not, we will wait until the timing and essence of the trade will come. In the understanding that no it , we willinue operating wait. We say in a very few case, in the very unprobable case, that the United States decides nafta,nasca quit mexico will work with the omc rules. Wto. Doesnt have any elections, so im sort of caught in the middle ear. However one of the things i think is its going to be a to the negotiators to determine what the timeframe is going to be as to when these are finalized. Is to ensure the concerns of farmers and ranchers are heard as we go through the negotiations. One comment i would make is making sure as the negotiators go through this that any discussions that take lace in the public builds on confidence of a trading relationship and not undermine that confidence because every day we have farmers and ranchers shipping products back and forth across the border, trading with each other and anything that undermines that could really hurt the economy and hurt longterm planning or how we move ahead. You know, the farm economy is not really good in america makesnow and uncertainty everyone on farmland very uncomfortable. It is our desire and wish to make sure the modernization of this trade treaty happens and lets get our discussions behind us so we can bring some certainty to the them plant thee next crop next year and be prepared for that. Like i said earlier, time is money to farmers and having uncertainty is not helpful and this is going to play a major role in those areas as we move forward. We highly encourage them to edit done and get done fast and we are looking for the successful modernization of this great treaty. Operator, maybe we could take another question from those on the phone line. Our next question coming from jeff with cromwell ag net work. Please proceed with your question. Thank you for taking her call is the commonality discovered under the Transpacific Partnership for the u. S. Withdrew, should that be the baseline for the beginning of negotiations or is that enemy we might expect . We consider have big advances that we can consider for the modernization of nafta. Know that 11 countries left. For both to continue with the for mexico was very to coordinateuse nafta with canada and the United States. You mentioned about tpp being a base. Im not sure i would call it a base but it outlines the scope of a modern trade agreement. The variety of using it as a base for the market, the Market Dynamics have changed, so it would be very difficult to accept that as a base Going Forward for top i think talking about the scope and some of the issues that were discussed might be something that is looked at but i cant it being used as a base. There is a lot of areas tpp was interested and excited about, so hopefully there will be bits and pieces that could be used, but thinking the treaty would be used as a race, i dont think that will be what would happen, but we hope they pick up on the modernization of the treaty and ring it to the modernization of nafta. More questions from the floor . A followup question on tpp for the u. S. The president with draw from tvp and i think u. S. Farmers are offended missing out on the benefits you are supposed to get. Its the response on the possible u. S. And japan fta and what the Trump Administration is thinking about . I havent spoken directly to him, but hearing him talk about future trade treating future trade treaties i think is very possible. We are hoping other countries are interested in having those conversations and i would hope japan would be open to that discussion of having a bilateral treaty between your country and u. S. Operator, do we have anyone still on the phone who wants to ask a question . Win a question coming from Ellen Ferguson from cq roll call. These proceed with your question. Ask thank you all for having the conference. I wanted to ask about supply management. That has been a big concern particularly for u. S. Dairy farmers. That seems to be an area it says it will defend. Do you see is there a potential candidate might accept some changes to supply management . I think our government has been very clear stating they are going to defend supply management and we stand behind that. When we talkings about adding together a joint statement, we try to concentrate on those areas where we have a joint interest. We try to concentrate on areas and each country has issues we can bring forward. Talkingent our time about these, all it would be is a family fight. The three countries operate in very Close Relationships and were going to have differences. I dont think its bad to have differences and a health the discussion around them. More we have time for one more question. In terms of doing no harm, from what you know of the negotiating edition of the u. S. Government would do harm short of withdrawing from the agreement and would you be better off if trump had never raised the issue . American agriculture is not seeking renegotiation or the modernization of this treaty but once the election started and the rhetoric started around it and we have a new president that has that desire, then of course we look for opportunities in the challenge for us. Be better off schumer no until this trade treaty has negotiated. Hopefully mr. Trump lives of to and of this at the negotiation, the farmers and ranchers across north america and all three of our countrys even better off than we are today. We are going to go into this if heptimistic and say accomplishes what he wants to do, our farmers will have certainty in the market and certainty where they will be exporting to and certainty and what they will be planning and producing next year. We have the opportunity to make something that is good and good in the past and make it better. If you start swapping off the gains we have gained an american agriculture for some other business sector, it could be harmful to american agriculture, or if we put pressure into another country that may make a decision to take their business elsewhere, it could do harm to our farmers. Lets dont try to fix whats not broken and the agricultural fees of nafta is not totally broken but it could take some attention in certain areas. I think when the discussion opened, i think ourselves in the canadian government realizes the degree has been in place since 94. Thats why when the three of our organizations got together and started identifying areas where we could make improvements, we are very specific about the types of things that would improve trade flows, harmonize regulations and those types of things that likely should be a dated. When you go that long, it needs a look at, but our advice has much on thoseery five recommendations and if those are achieved, it will likely make things better for farmers in all three countries when President Donald Trump made the decision celebrate 133 we organizations of the farm bureau. Because fromafta , the commerce between the countries will have times. Creased. 3 that process has been the same process in mexico and canada. We are the most competitive area agreement, we are going to make more stronger asia, especially china and we the competitive the d in north america. On the phone . Eft anyone left on the floor . With that, thank you for coming. It has been a pleasure. 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