The outcome of this week’s round of NAFTA talks in Mexico may be hinging on U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. That’s the hope of many U.S. ag groups looking for a positive outcome to the negotiations. That’s been tempered by rhetoric in the past over President Trump’s demands that Mexico pay for a border wall. Colin Woodall, Vice President of Government Affairs for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association is hoping for more reason being injected into the talks.
He thinks the seventh round of discussions taking place in Mexico have a more optimistic bent than what was exhibited prior to the recent talks in Canada.
He says that’s getting a positive agreement forged before it gets into the spring when Mexico has their elections. Woodall says having a solid NAFTA deal is critical for the U.S. cattle industry. He says they’re focusing on not only NAFTA but also KORUS and any other bilateral pact that may come up.
Woodall says not only is the possible distraction from NAFTA of the Mexican elections a concern but also elections later this fall in the United States.
