A coalition has formed to advocate for preserving and modernizing the North American Free Trade Agreement.

The Iowa chapter of Americans for Farmers & Families is working to ensure President Trump and congressional leaders understand the importance of NAFTA.

The local chapter is part of a broad-based national group of more than 50 organizations representing growers, refiners, producers, transporters, retailers, and consumers, and aims to undertake a robust educational campaign to highlight the positive impacts of NAFTA to the state and the country. 

“NAFTA has helped Iowa and our farmers make a lot of progress in markets in the past couple of decades,” said Ed Wiederstein, former president of the Iowa Farm Bureau, Audubon-area farmer and member of AFF. “We should work to build on that success by modernizing this agreement.”

In 2016, Iowans exported a total of $5 billion in food and agricultural products, $2.5 billion (51%) of which went to NAFTA partners.

Since taking effect in 1994, the benefits of NAFTA have spread beyond America’s agricultural community, helping grow over 43 million jobs, including more than 750,000 in Iowa. However, it is rural communities that have been among the biggest winners under NAFTA, the very same areas that powered then-candidate Trump’s victory in 2016.

NAFTA numbers

For more information, visit https://americansforfarmersandfamilies.com/

Source: Iowa chapter of Americans for Farmers & Families