Continuing the U.S. trade agreement with Mexico and Canada, the nation’s two largest agricultural trading partners, is critical for Iowa and other American farmers, say producers, economists and others attending the World Pork Expo in Des Moines.
Citing ongoing trade turmoil, rising prices and farmers’ continued financial struggles, farm group leaders at the expo urged the Trump administration to renew the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which is slated for review in July.
“It’s been wildly successful,” Julie Kenney, CEO of the Agribusiness Association of Iowa, said during a roundtable discussion at the expo, held at the Iowa State Fairgrounds Wednesday and Thursday June 3 and 4. The event annually draws some 10,000 pork producers and ag professionals from around the world to Iowa, the nation’s leading pork producer.
The review of the agreement comes as U.S. cattle producers are seeing strong returns but producers of corn, soybeans and other crops are facing a fourth year of potential losses while trying to dig out from especially difficult seasons in 2023 and 2024.
Rob Brenneman, a southeast Iowa pork producer and National Pork Producers Council board president, said during an Expo press conference that the challenges of trade and tariffs “have been big.” The U.S.-Iran war is driving up fertilizer and fuel prices at a time when costs for crop inputs already were rising, Brenneman said.
“The price of everything just keeps going up,” he said.
President Donald Trump’s barrage of tariffs and trade disagreements helped push the U.S. farm trade deficit to $40.7 billion in 2025, increasing it by 12% over 2024.
The USMCA, which Trump signed into law in 2020 during his first term, provided a rare bright spot amid the turmoil. Mexico, which spent $30.6 billion on U.S. farm goods in 2025, was the top foreign buyer of corn, pork and dairy products and second-largest buyer of soybeans. Canada followed at $28.2 billion and was the largest buyer of eggs and ethanol and the fourth-largest buyer of pork and beef, U.S. Department of Agriculture data shows.
In Iowa, Mexico and Canada were the state’s largest buyers of farm goods, spending a combined $3.3 billion.
The USMCA not only “gives us preferential market access and zero tariffs to both countries, it has helped with the integration of our supply chains, making sure that we can be very competitive in a global economy,” Maria Zieba, the National Pork Producers Council’s vice president of government affairs, said during a news conference.
Altogether, the U.S. exported $8.4 billion in pork in 2025, with Mexico buying about a third of the total.
Iowa ag secretary points to hopeful signs from China
Participants in a Farmers for Free Trade roundtable discussion at the expo said the USMCA works and politicians should “do no harm” with the review.
“If you can take the politics out of the room, the buyers and sellers of the products want to do business,” said Randy Miller, a central Iowa farmer and an American Soybean Association board member. He added that “if we can keep the politicians in step with where we need to be” it will make a “huge difference.”
Trump met with China’s president, Xi Jinping, in May, an indication that trade tensions are easing. But the countries’ tit-for-tat tariffs last year slammed U.S. soybean exports to China, which fell nearly 76%, USDA data shows.
Even with the decline, China was still the largest buyer of U.S. soy. Iowa Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig said in a news conference that agriculture took center stage during Trump and Xi’s talks, “and not just in side-rooms with deputies talking about these things.”
“There are more details that need to be forthcoming, but we know that China has made agreements or commitments around soybean purchases,” he said.
China has said it will purchase 25 million metric tons of soybeans from this year’s crop after pausing all U.S. soybean purchases for about five months last year. The USMCA agreement gives U.S. soybean growers an advantage in Mexico over Brazilian producers, who have aggressively increased their share of the global market, especially in China, Christopher Pudenz, an Iowa Farm Bureau Federation economist, said at the free trade roundtable.
While improvements may be needed in the USMCA agreement, it provides U.S. crop and livestock producers stability, said Kenney, CEO of the Agribusiness Association of Iowa. “In a challenging ag economy, I think people crave certainty,” said Kenney, whose group represents producers of seed, fertilizer and other farm supplies.
A “predictable trade arrangement with our two largest trading partners and neighbors is so incredibly critical,” she said.
Donnelle Eller covers agriculture, the environment and energy for the Register. Reach her at deller@registermedia.com.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: At pork expo, producers push for continued Mexico, Canada trade pact
Reporting by Donnelle Eller, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Donnelle Eller, Des Moines Register | USA TODAY Network
