A railroad company that exports U.S. agricultural products to Mexico is closely watching the North American Free Trade Agreement renegotiation effort. Kansas City Southern Railway Company CEO Pat Ottensmeyer told KMBC-TV in Kansas City, Missouri: “We once branded ourselves the NAFTA railroad.” Since NAFTA took effect, the railway has grown to send 40 percent of its business to Mexico. The CEO says a strong agriculture industry would rally the railway through any NAFTA uncertainty. Agriculture exports have grown 330 percent since 1993. Ottensmeyer is part of the U.S.-Mexico CEO Dialogue Group formed in 2013, a private sector voice on trade and economic issues when negotiations happen between the two countries. While President Trump plans to renegotiate NAFTA and has threatened to end the agreement, Ottennsmeyer says as time goes on, he gets “more and more confident that there is going to be a reasonable resolution” to the NAFTA discussions.” The company says it would be extremely difficult for the President to remove the United States from NAFTA, without the approval of Mexico and Canada, adding that any taxes or tariffs would also have to go through Congress.
From the National Association of Farm Broadcasting News Service.