The text of the United States, Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA) was released October 1, and while the administration claims the agreement to be a big win for the U.S., as the Agri-business industry gains further market access into Canada’s dairy and grain markets, the trade agreement deals another blow to Canada’s Supply Management system (begun in 1972) and its hallmark grain grading system.  It can’t be ignored that by insisting on undoing these very effective programs, Canadian Farmers, already on very shaky ground as a consequence of NAFTA and the U.S. Canada Free Trade Agreement, will be facing further financial ruin. All you have to do is look no farther than Mexico to understand that arguably the most egregious aspect of NAFTA was the planned destruction of Mexican food sovereignty, subsistence and family farms, by U.S. Agri-corporations as they dumped subsidized corn  on a country with the most diverse corn varieties in existence. Canada's supply management system is the envy of U.S. dairy farmers who are victims of an industry that mandates over-production below cost.  

In addition, the agreement fails to support Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) and climate change mitigation. In fact, the agreement fails to even mention climate change.

While there are some good additions to the “Modernized NAFTA,” there are numerous onerous aspects of the corporate-designed agreement that make it unacceptable.  The Agriculture Chapter of the USMCA pushes the streamlining of Biotech and GMO food crops and further greases the skids for giant corporate mega-crop and seed monopolists like Cargill to destroy our neighbor’s food sovereignty.  We must demand better! Negotiators would do well to protect our sovereign rights to sustainably produced food.  

Trade Justice Alliance is pleased to welcome Karen Hansen-Kuhn, the Director of Trade and Global Governance at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP).  She has been working on trade and economic justice since the beginning of the NAFTA debate  

Karen will discuss how the USMCA will affect the people and environments of the U.S. and Mexico, relative to the history of current free trade deals.

We also are pleased to welcome Terry Boehm, former president of the Canadian National Farmer’s Union.  Terry will speak about the effects of free trade on Canadian Farmers, and the expected consequences should the USMCA be signed by Congress.

Article by Karen Hansen-Kuhn:

https://www.iatp.org/documents/new-nafta-puts-brakes-farm-policy-reforms

National Farmers Union:

https://viacampesina.org/en/no-to-any-nafta-concessions-on-grain-grading-says-nfu/