Ratification of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) will bolster agricultural trade for all three countries within North America as well as globally, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue said last week at the annual USDA Agricultural Outlook Forum.

He compared the trade deal, which updates the 25-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), to regional economic efforts that occurred among neighboring states when he was governor of Georgia.

“We competed against each other for specific projects but were always pulling for the region,” said Perdue. “I think that’s the situation we...