As 45 trashes NAFTA, Mexico turns to Brazilian corn [View all]

[Tanuki]

https://mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKCN1G61J4?__twitter_impression=true


"Mexican buyers imported ten times more corn from Brazil last year amid concern that NAFTA renegotiations could disrupt their U.S. supplies, according to government data and top grains merchants.

Mexico is on track to buy more Brazilian corn in 2018, which would hurt a U.S. agricultural sector already struggling with low grains prices and the rising competitive threat from South America.

U.S. farmers, food processors and grain traders have spent months trying to prevent trade relationships from falling apart if the North American Free Trade Agreement implodes. They are trying to protect more than $19 billion in sales to Mexican buyers of everything from corn and soybeans to dairy and poultry.
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An end to NAFTA, farm and trade groups say, would likely lead to increased tariffs on grains trade, hurting one of the electoral constituencies that carried Trump to power. During his campaign, Trump promised farming communities that agriculture would benefit from his presidency.
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The U.S. is already on course to lose its position as the top global corn exporter. Brazil is gaining by producing cheaper supplies that help offset higher freight costs to some destinations such as Mexico. Deteriorating U.S. trade relations with Mexico - which buys nearly a quarter of U.S. corn exports - could accelerate Brazil's rise.
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The stakes are also high for the U.S. poultry sector, which exports products worth more than $1 billion a year to Mexico and could see the southern neighbor slap a 75 percent tariff on U.S. chicken and turkey under its commitments to World Trade Organization rules.
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