Opening Statements

WASHINGTON, DC — House Committee on Agriculture Chairman Glenn "GT" Thompson (PA-15) delivered the following opening statement at today's full committee hearing, "Agricultural Perspectives on the Future of USMCA."

Remarks as prepared:

Good morning, everyone and thank you for joining us at today’s important hearing to discuss U.S. agricultural perspectives on the future of the United States – Mexico – Canada Agreement, otherwise known as USMCA.

To each of our witnesses, thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to share your expertise with us.

As we all know, USMCA is a trilateral trade agreement between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada that entered into force on July 1, 2020.

USMCA replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement – or NAFTA – but most importantly, it created a more reciprocal, balanced free trade agreement between our countries.

As the agreement is up for review in July, it is more important than ever to talk about what USMCA means for U.S. agriculture.

USMCA maintains tariff-free treatment for certain agricultural products while expanding market access for a range of U.S. grown commodities.

This has proven to be extremely beneficial not only to our U.S. farmers, ranchers, foresters, and agri-businesses, but also to U.S. consumers and the economy as a whole.

To get us started, I would like to share a few statistics that highlight those benefit. Economic models show that in 2024 alone, agricultural and seafood exports to Canada and Mexico generated $149 billion in total economic contribution to the U.S. economy, supporting nearly half a million American jobs and generating $36 billion in wages.

Since USMCA took effect, Mexico and Canada have collectively purchased more than $60 billion in U.S. ag commodities annually, accounting for roughly one-third of all U.S. ag exports. Mexico and Canada together account for over 40 percent of all U.S. dairy exports by value, meaning that USMCA remains the most commercially significant trade agreement for the U.S. dairy industry.
For the U.S. forest products sector, Canada accounts for 39% of imports and Mexico accounts for 24% of the export market.

For fruits and vegetables, exports from the U.S. to Canada and Mexico reached over $7 billion in 2024, representing roughly two-thirds of all global U.S. fresh produce exports. Canada and Mexico together accounted for $4 billion in exports in marketing year 2024 for the soybean industry.

In 2025, U.S. meat and poultry exports exceeded $23 billion, and exports to Canada and Mexico accounted for $8 billion of that total.

For agri-businesses, USMCA’s provisions on things like sanitary and phytosanitary measures help ensure that legitimate health and safety rules do not become barriers to trade.

A recent study by Purdue University has also found that North American trade agreements, including USMCA, have helped lower food prices for U.S. households, generating an estimated savings of $700 per year.

These statistics, and many others across all agricultural commodities, prove why USMCA is so important to the U.S. ag industry.

Now, I must also recognize that there are provisions within USMCA that could and should be improved upon in the upcoming renegotiations.

Canada’s implementation of its dairy commitments, on both TRQs and export disciplines, have not met the mark.

U.S. forest products manufacturers continue to struggle under the Chapter 10 binational panel review process.

Reinforcing and building upon USMCA’s labor requirements, biotechnology provisions, food safety standards, and registration approvals will be paramount.

As we look to the coming months, I am confident that the U.S. government will continue to work closely with industry experts and our trading partners to renegotiate and solidify this critically important trade deal.

I look forward to hearing from our witnesses today about the ways in which USMCA impacts their operations, as well as what their suggestions are for improvements.

Thank you again to our witnesses for being here.

With that, I will yield to the ranking member for any opening comments she’d like to make.