USDA Undersecretary for Trade and Foreign Agriculture Affairs Ted McKinney was one of the speakers at this week’s Farmer to Farmer conference in Omaha, Nebraska. McKinney says trade concerns topping farmers attending the meeting included the tariff battle with China as well as the USMCA, NAFTA remake deal. He says two of the most important components in the USMCA agreement include biotech and sanitary phyto sanitary measures.

He’s optimistic about getting Congress to ratify the USMCA and expects that to happen late first quarter or early first quarter of 2019.

McKinney says he recently spoke with European Union officials about a possible trade deal with them and the need for them to approve biotech and gene editing standards.

McKinney says following the USMCA, the next trade priorities include a bilateral deal with Japan, a trade pact with the United Kingdom and one with the European Union.