The Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance (CAFTA) is joining nearly 160 North American agricultural organizations in calling for the renewal and strengthening of CUSMA/USMCA and backing that call with a delegation in Washington the first week of June for direct meetings with members of key Congressional committees and federal officials ahead of the July 1, 2026, joint review.

CAFTA and its member organizations are among the signatories of a trilateral industry letter released on June 2 to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, Canadian Minister Dominic LeBlanc and Mexican Secretary of Economy Marcelo Ebrard, urging all three governments to protect the integrated North American agricultural trading framework that has tripled agri-food trade between the three countries between 2005 and 2023, reaching $285 billion. 

Meetings will reinforce the trilateral letter's call to protect that rules-based framework and ensure the July 1 review strengthens and preserves the disciplines that have made the agreement work.

"Nearly 160 organizations across the United States, Canada and Mexico are sending the same message today: CUSMA works for North American agriculture, and the July 1 review is the moment to preserve what's working," said Greg Northey, president of the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance. 

The delegation's message to U.S. officials is grounded in shared economic interest, as the organizations behind that call represent supply chains that run deep into the American economy.

“The producers, processors and exporters we represent support nearly half a million American jobs and $149 billion in U.S. economic output,” added Michael Harvey, executive director of the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance. “A predictable, rules-based CUSMA/USMCA is a strategic asset for North American food security, and new uncertainty would inject risk into supply chains across rural America.”

Canada is one of the United States’ top two agricultural export markets, buying more American agricultural goods than Japan, South Korea and the United Kingdom combined. The North American agri-food supply chain supports nearly 493,000 American jobs and $36 billion in wages, while helping sustain the broader $3.5 billion in goods and services traded across the Canada-U.S. border each day.

Source:  Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance June 2, 2026 news release