<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/energy-environment/346813-how-trumps-new-nafta-could-boost-american-farming" class="">http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/energy-environment/346813-how-trumps-new-nafta-could-boost-american-farming</a><br class=""><div class=""><div class=""><br class=""><div class=""><h1 class="title" id="page-title" style="font-size: 54px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Graphik Web', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(44, 44, 44);">How Trump’s new NAFTA could boost American farming</h1><div class="submitted-wrp" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px 20px; padding-bottom: 20px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 223, 228); font-family: 'Graphik Web', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="submitted-by" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1; font-family: 'Graphik Web', Helvetica, Arial, 'san serif'; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); margin: 0px; text-transform: uppercase; border-bottom-style: none !important;">BY ROGER JOHNSON, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR - <span class="submitted-date" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; border-bottom-style: none !important;">08/16/17 02:40 PM EDT</span></span></div></div></div></div><div class=""><p class="">For decades, America’s farming and rural communities have suffered
lost jobs, lowered wages and fleeting economic liberty as a result of
our nation’s free trade agenda.</p><p class="">We’ve traded away our sovereignty
and allowed a massive trade imbalance with foreign countries to undercut
American industries and workers. As the Trump administration looks to
revamp our trade deals, it’s time our country turn the page to a new,
fair trade agenda that benefits American family farmers, ranchers and
rural residents. This begins today at the outset of North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA) renegotiations.</p>For
decades, National Farmers Union has warned of the imprudence of the
“free trade” agenda. With the implementation of each new trade deal, the
free trade framework has accelerated the rate at which we give away
market access and sovereignty for the sake of expanded markets. This
macroeconomic management works well for the multinational corporations
who rely upon these expanded markets to please their shareholders, but
it has failed the farmers, ranchers and rural residents who must compete
with the increased imports that follow.<div class=""> </div><div class="">Twenty-three years
ago, NAFTA established a set of trade parameters that have benefitted
corporate America — while damaging rural American communities and
economies. Those parameters became a framework that is replicated in the
14 trade deals the U.S. entered since NAFTA, and it’s that framework
that needs to be fixed.</div><p class="">Last year, the U.S. ran a $500 billion
deficit in trade with other countries. That’s not responsible. And it’s
not sustainable. No fiscally responsible individual withdraws more money
from their bank account than they deposit, yet we have we done it as a
country for the past 40 years with respect to trade. </p><p class="">In turn, we
export jobs and wages rather than goods and services. President Trump
campaigned on the trade deficit issue, and he won over many areas of the
country by promising to fix it. This must translate into effective,
balanced-trade provisions in any new framework.</p><p class="">Also central to a
fair trade framework is stemming the exodus of money and power from
rural America. As written now, the rules provide immense power to the
handful of corporate executives and shareholders that have a heavy hand
in the writing of our trade agreements. </p><p class="">For instance, NAFTA was
the first U.S. trade agreement to include the investor-state dispute
settlement arbitration procedure, which allows foreign companies to sue
governments over laws that undermine their profits. These suits go
before foreign tribunals, and their results ultimately dictate U.S.
laws. We should reject any similar provisions that consolidate corporate
control under a new NAFTA.</p><p class="">Finally, we need to preserve our
sovereignty. All nations deserve the right to set domestic policies
supported by their people. That includes policies that ensure farmers
are paid a fair share for their crops and livestock.</p><p class="">Several years ago, a challenge from our NAFTA trading partners, Canada and Mexico, convinced<a href="http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2015/12/usda-ends-cool-enforcement-with-presidents-signature-on-omnibus-bill/#.WZRzUHeGOt8" class=""> Congress to repeal the U.S. Country-of-Origin Labeling (</a>COOL)
law on meat. COOL was a commonsense law that gave American consumers
desired information about the food they eat. It also allowed American
ranchers to distinguish their product in the marketplace. In fact, more
than 90 percent of consumers support the law.</p><p class="">The Trump
administration was initially supportive of reinstating country-of-origin
labeling through NAFTA negotiations, but has since removed any mention
of the law from its objectives. We must not allow foreign governments
and companies to dictate our laws here at home. </p><p class="">Of course, trade
with foreign countries is vital to the American farm economy. We rely on
positive trade relationships to export our abundance of goods. Without
these relationships, prices for crops and livestock would plummet for
farmers and ranchers.</p><p class="">Agriculture has long been a bright spot for
U.S. international trade, offering a surplus. However, this surplus is
just a tiny fraction of our overall total trade deficit, and not enough
to stop the harm a free trade agenda inflicts on rural communities. Even
with Mexico and Canada, the U.S. has a trade deficit in agricultural
goods. </p><p class="">The president needs to negotiate in a manner that
preserves and expands American agriculture’s trade relationships with
the rest of the world, not harms them.</p><p class="">To this point, the
president has not engaged our trading partners with the level of tact or
diplomacy necessary to promote good trade relationships. He has sparked
tensions with each of our NAFTA trading partners and has even provoked
Mexican trade officials to search for new markets to buy their corn. </p><p class="">American
family farmers and ranchers have long been behind the president’s
stated intent of balancing our trade and restoring our sovereignty.
We’ll remain adamant that this NAFTA renegotiation process must
institute a fair trade framework that benefits the livelihoods of all
Americans.<em class=""> </em></p><p class=""><em class="">Roger Johnson is president of the <a href="https://nfu.org/" class="">National Farmers Union</a>
(NFU), a grassroots organization that represents nearly 200,000 family
farmers, ranchers, fisherman and rural communities across the United
States. Johnson is a third generation farmer from Turtle Lake, North
Dakota, and previously served as North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner.
Follow NFU on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/NFUDC?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor" class="">@NFUDC</a>. </em></p></div></body></html>