(WASHINGTON D.C.) Trade talks with Mexico and Canada resume at the end of the month. Agriculture states, including Iowa, have been watching to see if President Donald Trump will pull the United States out of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Senators, including Iowa Republican Joni Ernst, a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, recently tried to convince President Trump otherwise. President Trump has been critical of NAFTA, and has suggested it be ended.
Senator Ernst said during a conference call with Iowa reporters today (Thursday), that she was part of a group presenting information to President Trump showing NAFTA's positive economic impact on U.S. agriculture.
She says the President asked many questions, including which Senators might want to scrap the entire trade deal. Ernst says lawmakers at the meeting, indicated some wish to change the trade agreement, but no one wants to terminate NAFTA.
Senator Ernst says she believes Trump heard a side that perhaps had not been presented to the administration before. She says she thinks the President assumed there was support in Congress for scrapping NAFTA, -Ernst says that's not true.