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Trump’s push on immigration and NAFTA cast shadow over the Kansas City area economy

Expanded immigration enforcement and potential trade renegotiation are casting a shadow over Kansas City area residents and businesses. Both topics surfaced Wednesday during an agricultural trade forum at Union Station. Talk focused mostly on trade and President Donald Trump’s calls to renegotiate the North America Free Trade Agreement that covers the United States, Canada and Mexico. “For all those who are thinking about renegotiating NAFTA, our request is do no harm first and foremost,” said Neil Herrington, executive director of the Americas for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, who spoke at the forum.  The 23-year-old trade agreement has sparked imports and exports. It also has led to “continental integration” in agribusiness, said Kevin Smith, assistant vice president of international sales for Seaboard Foods based in Merriam. Western Canada, for example, produces a lot of pork and much of it supplies markets in the western United States. Canada’s large population centers in the east, however, buy U.S. pork rather than move Canada’s pork across the continent, he said. “It’s logistically cheaper and economically more feasible,” Smith said. “It benefits both countries.” The two men and other speakers emphasized that trade is critically important to the economies of Missouri and Kansas and that agriculture plays a substantial role in their trade on the continent. For example, nearly 70 percent of Missouri’s agricultural exports go to Canada or Mexico. For Kansas, the total is 36 percent.

 

 

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The Kansas City Star
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