The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), implemented in 2020, provides duty-free market access and strengthens North American trade competitiveness. U.S., Mexican and Canadian officials must have a joint review the operation of the agreement by July 1, 2026. Following the review, all three parties must agree whether to extend the agreement for another 16-year term.
In this Feed & Grain Chat, Mallory Gaines, director of global affairs for the American Feed Industry Association (AFIA), emphasized the importance of the USMCA joint review process for the animal feed and pet food industries.
Gaines said AFIA’s top priority is renewing the agreement, noting that Canada and Mexico account for roughly 30% of U.S. exports in these sectors. Gaines also highlighted areas for improvement, including greater regulatory reciprocity, faster product registration approvals, reduced sanitary and phytosanitary barriers and fair tax treatment among the three countries.
She urged policymakers to preserve and strengthen the trilateral agreement, arguing that a renewed USMCA will support industry growth, expand export opportunities and help reduce the U.S. agricultural trade deficit.
Transcript of interview with Mallory Gaines, director of global affairs, American Feed Industry Association:
Elise Schafer, editor, Feed & Grain: Hi, everyone, and welcome to Feed & Grain Chat. I'm your host, Elise Schafer, editor of Feed & Grain. This edition of Feed & Grain Chat is brought to you by WATT Global Media and FeedandGrain.com. FeedandGrain.com is your source for the latest news, product and equipment information for the grain handling and feed manufacturing industries.
Today, I'm joined by Mallory Gaines, director of global affairs for AFIA. She's here to update us on USMCA negotiations and AFIA's priorities as these nations come together for joint review of the agreement. Hi, Mallory. Thanks for joining me today.
Mallory Gaines, director of global affairs, AFIA: Hi, thank you so much. Happy to be here.
Schafer: Great. Now, the U.S. and Mexico have already begun bilateral negotiations as part of the first USMCA joint review. Why is this review process so important for the U.S. animal feed and pet food industries?
Gaines: I think the review process is incredibly important because it is part of the USMCA agreement that it get reviewed, that we talk about it, that we make sure the agreement is going well, and I think that is an important and kind of impressive aspect of the USMCA whole trade agreement — that it wasn't just, ‘OK, we're done. Thank you. Goodbye.’ No Now we have to come back and really see how this is working for the United States and ultimately Canada and Mexico.
If you're from Canada or Mexico, really, we would like to see all three countries come together and have those trilateral negotiations. I think it's great that the U.S. and Mexico have started. I know Mexico and Canada have started and the U.S. and Mexico are taking their first baby steps. I'd say they haven't had a real negotiation yet, but they're hopefully going to soon, and we'd like to see that. We need that trilateral agreement to really support the animal feed and pet food industries.
Schafer: So, what are the top priorities AFIA wants policymakers to address on behalf of the feed and pet food sectors?
Gaines: Yeah, absolutely. I'm going to say this a lot during this interview, so here we go: Our top priority is that we want USMCA renewed. It is a good agreement. It gives us preferential treatment to both Canada and Mexico, and it makes North America stronger to be together and to have this duty-free access for animal feed and pet food. That's kind of our number one thing.
We do recognize that there are things that could be improved, not just in the agreement, but in our communication with the countries back and forth. I think we'd like to see some better reciprocity in terms of our products and ingredients being approved in each of the countries. That should be a smoother process, an easier process, if we have this type of agreement and understanding between us.
Tax issues should be settled. We should make sure that we're not being overtaxed for our products. Again, there should be some reciprocity there, but ultimately, we want this agreement renewed, so we can work on those issues, not have it broken down to work on them.
Schafer: Now, USMCA has been in force for nearly six years. What benefits has the agreement provided animal food manufacturers, and why is it important to preserve those gains during this review?
Gaines: Yeah, thanks. USMCA has been an incredibly viable agreement for the animal feed and pet food sector. So globally, Mexico and Canada represent 30% of our exports. That's a huge market for us. And then since USMCA went into effect in 2020, it’s so important to the U.S. animal feed and pet food sector and we really need to see it continue because it builds off of our other exports. We need USMCA. It helps support our industry and then we can not only produce food for U.S. animal feed and pet food sector, animal sector, but also globally.
Schafer: Now, you mentioned AFIA calling for some improvements across North America. What specific regulatory or certification challenges still create unnecessary barriers for animal food exports?
Gaines: I think that there are still some SPS issues out there — sanitary and phytosanitary issues — I would say specifically with Mexico. We still see very long times to get products registered in Mexico and at that at this point, I think it is a negotiation between the U.S. and Mexico.
Why is there so much red tape? Why isn't there more reciprocity? Why aren't our products being approved in a timely manner? We recognize both of each other's systems, so why is this so burdensome? And I think some of that paperwork, too, with exporting from the U.S. to Mexico for some of those animal-based products could also be negotiated or renegotiated and ultimately end us in a better trading place, probably for both countries. Again, I mean imports are as important to trade as exports, and we want to see that exchange so that we can continue to export more.
And really, not only export more with Canada and Mexico, when we have duty-free imports from Canada and Mexico to support U.S. industry, we're able to export to other countries and grow our market access and really take a chunk out of that agriculture trade deficit that I know the administration is pretty desperate to get down. and we want to do our part to help with that.
Schafer: In closing, what message would you like U.S. trade officials to hear about the significance of renewing and strengthening USMCA for the long term?
Gaines: You probably see this answer coming, but we want the agreement renewed and we want a trilateral agreement. We are North America. We're strong as North America, and the USMCA being that strong trilateral agreement has benefited U.S. agriculture. It's benefited the U.S. animal feed and pet food sector. And with those benefits, we’ll continue to grow and that support will continue to be stabilized if this is renewed. We want USMCA to be renewed.
Schafer: Well, Mallory, thank you so much for sharing your insights with us today.
Gaines: Thank you. It was a pleasure.
Schafer: Well, that's all for today's Feed & Grain Chat. If you'd like to see more videos like this, subscribe to our YouTube channel, sign up for the Industry Watch daily eNewsletter, or go to FeedandGrain.com and search for videos. Thanks again for watching, and we hope to see you next time!