b'USMCA Is The Priority This Summerby Kam Quarles, NPC Executive Vice President and CEOThe Administration has announced likely to lose $80 million annuallytheirdesiretosendthenewU.S.- just on processed product exports toMexico-CanadaAgreement(USM Mexico if this continues.CA) to Capitol Hill for approval thissummer.Passingthisagreement, Before the USMCA is passed by bothandinconjunctioneliminating the House and Senate, it is believedMexicos retaliation against our steel thattheretaliatorytariffsmustbeand aluminum (Section 232) tariffs, eliminated.If they remain in place,is the major priority for U.S. agricul- itisunlikelythatthenecessaryture and the potato industry. voteswillemerge.ForMexicotowithdrawthesetariffs,theWhy?We are losing market share to Administration will need to act firstNPCforeigncompetitorsduetothis by backing away from the steel andongoing trade dispute.The opening aluminumtariffsthatcausedthein Mexico that has been provided to retaliation.bothEuropeanandCanadiansup-Messagepliers may take years for our indus- The Administration has not yet sig-try to close. Overall, American agri- naledtheirintentiontodealwithculture is losing billions in parallel. thesteelandaluminumtariffs.Currently the U.S. potato industry is Rathertheyhaveindicatedthatifburdenedwitha20%tariffon Congress does not pass the USMCA,frozen fry exports to Mexico.This they will pull the U.S. entirely out of20% tariff is retaliation by Mexico theNorthAmericanFreeTradeforthesteelandaluminumtariffs Agreement.Should that occur, it isthattheAdministrationplacedon estimatedthattheU.S.potatotheirexports.UnderNAFTA,we industrywilllosemorethan$200hadnotariffsonourfrozenfry million annually in exports to bothexports.It is estimated that we are CanadaandMexico.Themagni-8 POTATO GROWER MAY/JUNE 2019'