President Trump says he won’t pull out of the North American Free Trade Agreement, but instead will renegotiate the trade pact. Yesterday the nation’s farm groups asked President Trump not to withdraw after reports the administration was drafting and Executive Order to pull out of the trade deal immediately. U.S. Grains Council President and CEO Tom Sleight says they were concerned because Mexico and Canada are among the United States’ largest grain export markets. In fact, Mexico is the largest buyer of U.S. corn so it would have a negative effect on sales, market prices and farmer profitability because Mexico will look to other markets.

He says whether its saber rattling by the administration or a reaction to the trade disputes with Canada, it’s not a good negotiating tactic.

Plus, Sleight says withdrawing from NAFTA is much more serious than renegotiation.

Sleight says while there are reasons to update NAFTA after 23 years, they don’t support withdrawal and hope to get the negotiations back on track soon.