Although U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue remains hopeful that the Trump Administration will be successful in renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), he told reporters in a press gaggle after his Agency’s Veterans Day ceremony that USDA is preparing contingency plans, warning a withdrawal from the trilateral agreement would have “some tragic consequences” as reported by Politico’s Catherine Boudreau. IL Corn agrees with the Secretary’s assessment. A withdrawal from NAFTA would mean lower prices, lost markets, and a heavy dependence on farm program payments. We continue to support President Trump’s efforts to modernize NAFTA and applaud him for that work, but the modernization cannot come at the expense of losing the agreement as it stands now.