Dec 10, 2018

Canadian group salutes signing of NAFTA 2.0

The Canadian Produce Marketing Association (CPMA) welcomes the signing of the new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) Nov. 30 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

CPMA has been actively involved in the negotiations of the USMCA and has worked closely with negotiators since formal negotiations were launched in summer 2017.

“The North American fresh fruit and vegetable industry is a highly integrated and complex system that works to provide Canadians with affordable fresh produce all year round. The USMCA will provide long-term certainty for both industry and consumers in all three countries,” said CPMA President Ron Lemaire.

“On behalf of CPMA and its members, I would like to thank the Prime Minister, Minister Freeland and Minister MacAulay for their steadfast support of the fresh produce industry during these negotiations. The USMCA will increase trade, provide business stability and bolster our North American competitiveness for generations to come.”

CPMA is pleased with many elements found in the new USMCA such as the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Chapter, the Competitiveness Chapter, the maintenance of binational panels to resolve disputes on duties, world-leading provisions on biotechnology, and the formalization of the bilateral Consultative Committees on Agriculture.

CPMA strongly urges all three countries to ratify the agreement as soon as possible and will be monitoring the ratification process closely.