Canada’s minister of agriculture and his Mexican counterpart say they’re looking to increase trade between the two countries despite concerns the U.S. wants to review the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
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McAulay said the goal is to try and increase agricultural trade between the two countries to $75 billion by the year 2025.
The minister said his position on NAFTA is to “wait until the table is set to see how to deal with it.”
“The United States has indicated they want to review NAFTA. We have to see what’s put before us,” he said.
Mexico’s Agriculture Secretary José Calzada said when it comes to NAFTA, the three trading partners “shouldn’t try to fix what isn’t broken.”
But he admits some tweaks could be made.
“When the trade deal was negotiated 24 years ago, there were things that didn’t exist like E-trade, organics and better ways to keep track of products with traceability,” he said.
MacAulay stressed how integrated agriculture has become in North America, using a hamburger from the Calgary Stampede as an example. The 10-day festival runs until Sunday.
“It’s very likely the meat was produced right around Calgary. Perhaps the grain and bun were produced in the United States and the great Mexican tomato that’s in there would come from Mexico.”
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