Hatch: Congress Will Act on NAFTA Withdrawal

Utah Republican Senator Orrin Hatch weighed in this week on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) negotiations. The Senate Finance Committee Chair says Congress will intervene if President Trump follows through on his threat to withdraw the U.S. from the agreement. He says, “We’d probably work hard to pass NAFTA, hopefully by a veto-proof vote, because it’s very important, there’s no doubt about it.”

Hatch spoke with reporters after speaking at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C., saying he believes Trump is only making the threat to put pressure on Mexico and Canada. Hatch doesn’t believe Trump will actually withdraw from the agreement. “I think that’s part of his negotiation posture,” he says, “and in all honesty, I think the president is negotiating. I think that he knows what he’s doing.”

Meanwhile, Kansas Republican Representative Lynn Jenkins used her face time with Trump this week to make the case of “the importance of access to global markets for agricultural producers in Kansas.” Her spokesperson says the representative emphasized that building off the economic successes from the recent tax cuts, Kansas farmers, ranchers, and manufacturers are eager to deliver and are hoping the administration will continue to seek ways to get American products into new markets.”

From the National Association of Farm Broadcasting News Service.