skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Ag Groups Question Trump's Immigration, Trade Plans

play audio
Play

Wednesday, February 8, 2017   

LINCOLN, Neb. – Agriculture and trade groups are voicing their concerns over President Donald Trump's stance on immigration and his threats to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Trump's calls to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico and possibly institute a tax on Mexican imports have incited a political crisis between the two countries. He also says he'll either renegotiate NAFTA to benefit Americans or withdraw from it altogether.

Karen Hansen-Kuhn, the director of trade and global governance for the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, says instead of pitting people in one country against another, NAFTA could be replaced so that it benefits all. She says rural farmers struggle to make a living under the current agreement.

"So much of the focus has been on producing as much as possible and depending on export market," she said. "And in the process, both because of provisions on tariffs and changes in investment rules, farmers have lost bargaining power."

Hansen-Kuhn says the Trump administration needs to take public comments, and check with farmers and rural communities, before making changes to NAFTA.

Hansen-Kuhn calls Trump's plan to build a wall between Mexico and the U.S. "outrageous, shortsighted and beneath us as a nation."

She says America's farm economy cannot function without those workers.

"Besides the fact that it's a wrong-headed proposal, I think it makes it pretty hard for the Mexican government to take any negotiations with the Trump administration, because people there are understandably upset," she added.

The IATP also opposes parts of the Trans Pacific Partnership. But the group supports restoring country-of-origin labeling so consumers know where the meat they're buying comes from, and it supports having more laws to regulate the "dumping" of foreign-grown fruits and vegetables into American markets, affecting local farmers' profits.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

Health and Wellness

play sound

Medicare and Medicaid are key sources of health coverage for many Americans and some people qualify for assistance under both programs. With lagging …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021