Administration Seeks to Keep Agriculture Gains Under NAFTA Talks

The first round of NAFTA 2.0 negotiations will run from August 16 to 20 and the Trump administration seeks only a limited renegotiation of the pact, according to a statement from White House chief economic adviser Gary Cohn, with a particular focus on keeping gains that have benefitted U.S. farmers. "NAFTA needs to be reformed to help protect American workers and create more jobs at home," Cohn said. "We should keep the parts that work, especially for much of American agriculture, but fix the parts that don't."Trump as a candidate for president denounced the trade deal as bad deal for the US. And while Trump took the U.S. out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the administration's negotiating objectives for the pact appear to borrow heavily from that trade deal."Unlike his predecessors, President Trump insists on trade deals that are fair, balanced, modern, and put the American economy first. NAFTA was created for the world of the 1990s," Cohn said. "Working together, we will modernize this agreement to meet the needs of today's economy, just as the President promised."