Hort Council on Trade Pt 1

Hort Council on Trade Pt 1

Bob Larson
Bob Larson
With today's Fruit Grower Report, I'm Bob Larson. Pacific Northwest Tree fruit growers are enjoying a good season with high quality and yield, but recent trade agreements haven't eliminated all of their concerns.

Northwest Horticultural Council president Mark Powers says the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement could open the door for more negotiations on tariffs ...

POWERS ... "We do need to see a solution and this wouldn't be the first time. Korea also had tariffs on steel and aluminum and the administration worked with the Korean government to find quotas and find a solution that Korean steel still to enter the United States, but under certain conditions and there wasn't retaliation as a result. So, we think it can be done. We know it can be done. It's a question of just getting it done quickly."

With ratification still needed, is there any chance the USMCA could be voted down?

POWERS ... "The short answer is yes and I think understandably so as you look at what's going on in our own political sphere heading into midterm elections, nothing is certain by any stretch of the imagination."

But, Powers says there is a fallback ...

POWERS ... "Assuming the worst happens, which I'd hate to do, but lets say the worst happens and it doesn't get ratified by the U.S., absent some really drastic action that says we're just going to scrap the whole thing, the current conditions, rules related to trade into Mexico and Canada would remain the same as they exist currently under NAFTA."

Listen tomorrow for more on the USMCA and other potential trade talks moving forward.

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