How Trump Created a Problem for U.S. Farmers
In March Thomas Sleight, the president of the U.S. Grains Council, flew to Mexico to calm worried partners. His association represents U.S. farmers who trade abroad, and while it has connections in more than 50 countries, Mexico is one of the most important; lately, it’s been a bit uneasy there. The future of North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is uncertain, and after Trump took office Sleight heard that some Mexican partners they’d worked with for years were acting a bit “frosty.” So Sleight visited with Mexican farmers from the Yucatán and from the country’s western coast, and in both regions he heard a common complaint.
Donald Trump, as a presidential candidate, called NAFTA a horrible deal for the U.S. and vowed to withdraw from the pact—though he has walked back those by 2014. On the ground that means about planted acres in the U.S. feeds Mexicans or Canadians. So when Trump crisscrossed the U.S. damning NAFTA as a failure, he created a problem for U.S. agriculture that had previously never existed.
