MEXICO CITY, June 20 -- The ministers of agriculture from Mexico, Canada and the United States on Tuesday praised the North American Free-Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
"The North American Free-Trade Agreement has been very beneficial for our respective agricultural sectors, as well as for consumers," all three said in a joint statement released by Mexico's Ministry of Agriculture.
At a June 19 and 20 meeting in the port city of Savannah, in the U.S. state of Georgia, Mexico's Agriculture Minister Jose Calzada and his Canadian and U.S. counterparts, Lawrence MacAulay and Sonny Perdue, pledged to work together to strengthen regional agricultural trade.
The trilateral meeting comes just weeks before the three countries are due to renegotiate the nearly two-decade-old agreement at the insistence of U.S. President Donald Trump, who has criticized the deal for luring industry and jobs away from the U.S.
"Our countries are connected not just geographically, but also by a deep integration of the agri-food sector," they said.
"Our trade ties are vital for the economy and the people of our respective countries. We are working to support and create jobs in the three nations," they added.
Agricultural trade disputes are "relatively few," and pale in comparison to the 85 billion U.S. dollars a year in agricultural trade exchange between the three North American countries, they stressed.
The three countries additionally carry out joint research and exchange best practices in the area of livestock and cultivation, helping to eradicate certain pests and diseases, the statement said.