FRANKFORT, Ky. (Sept. 20, 2019) — Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture Ryan Quarles released the following statement today regarding news that all living former U.S. Secretaries of Agriculture since the Reagan Administration joined Secretary Sonny Perdue to call for ratification of the United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement:

 

"Yesterday, all living former United States Secretaries of Agriculture since the Reagan Administration stood with Secretary Sonny Perdue to call on Congress to pass the USMCA. Let me repeat that: former U.S. Secretaries of Agriculture, Republicans and Democrats, called for ratification of the USMCA. That's because members of both political parties know it makes sense to do business with our neighbors. Our farm families produce the safest, most abundant food supply in the world. It is beyond time to pass the USMCA and secure market access with two of our largest trading partners."

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service, in 2018 Kentucky exported $265 million in agricultural and related products to Canada and $47 million to Mexico.