FRESNO (KMJ) — A new agreement between the United States, Canada, and Mexico, could be a boost to the Central Valley’s agricultural industry, according to the Fresno County Farm Bureau.
President Donald Trump’s announcement of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement Monday morning, or USMCA, specifically referenced farmers.
“This new deal is an especially great victory for our farmers…the agreement will give our farmers and ranchers far greater access to sell American grown produce in Mexico and in Canada.”
Canada’s dairy market was is one of the areas set to be made available to U.S. farmers.
“This is a great step forward in trying to open up these markets,” said Fresno County Farm Bureau CEO Ryan Jacobsen.
“For products that either have current markets that had higher than expected tariffs, and/or to open it up to other products that we maybe aren’t shipping as heavily right now.”
Jacobsen described it as a beneficial agreement with two major trading partners.
“Right now we’re looking at the elimination of most tariffs across the board. Obviously it’s not dealing with the issues that we’ve had going on for the past six months but going forward it’s definitely looks like it’s going to be beneficial.
“Little to no tariffs, and the ability of U.S. and California grown agriculture to take products there.”
Hear the report from KMJ’s Dominic McAndrew as it aired:
