American Farmers Hoping for Economic Gains from NAFTA Talks

As a candidate for president, Donald Trump called for talks on reworking the 1994 agreement, known as NAFTA.
川普作为总统候选人时呼吁就重新修订1994年达成的这项协议进行谈判。

One result of NAFTA was an increase in agricultural exports from the United States. So American farmers are worried that any changes to the trade deal could hurt them financially.
NAFTA协议的成果之一是增加了美国农产品的出口。所以有些美国农民担心对该协议做出任何修改可能都会损害他们的经济利益。

Ken Beck is a farmer in the state of Illinois. He says it is not easy to grow crops now.
肯·贝克(Ken Beck)是伊利诺伊州的农民。他说现在种植庄稼可不容易。

"Risky at best. There is no money in this game anymore."
贝克说:“风险很大,这个行业恐怕没那么容易赚钱了。”

Beck says his farm has been losing money in each of the past four years. He says corn and soy prices have dropped, while costs for fertilizer and seed are rising. He believes that the U.S. government can help him and other farmers by increasing trade.
贝克表示,他的农场过去四年每年都在亏损。他说,玉米和大豆的价格有所下降,而化肥和种子的成本却在上涨。他认为美国政府可以通过增加贸易来帮助他和其他农民。

His hopes for increased demand, and higher crop prices, ended when the Trump administration decided to withdraw from the Trans Pacific Partnership, or TPP agreement. That is why Beck is closely watching the U.S. efforts to renegotiate NAFTA.
他希望增加需求并提高农作物的价格,但是当川普政府决定退出跨太平洋伙伴关系时,他的希望破灭了。这是贝克密切关注美国重新谈判NAFTA协议的原因。

"For a corn producer, grain producer, NAFTA's been extremely good."
贝克说:“对于玉米和粮食生产者来说,北美自由贸易协定非常好。”

The United States is one of the top suppliers of agricultural products to Mexico. The U.S. exported more than $2.5 billion in corn to its southern neighbor in 2016. But this year there has been a decrease in Mexican imports of U.S. corn and soybean. Beck says that is because Mexico is buying crops from other countries.
美国是墨西哥最大的农产品供应商之一。2016年美国向墨西哥这个南方邻居出口了超过25亿美元的玉米。但是今年墨西哥对美国玉米和大豆的进口有所下降。贝克说,这是因为墨西哥开始从其它国家购买农作物。

"Mexico, for the first time in history, bought corn from Argentina. Was it cheaper? No. But they are sending a signal."
他说:“墨西哥有史以来首次从阿根廷购买玉米。是因为更便宜吗?不是。他们是在发出一个信号。”

Other signs that worry Beck are coming from President Trump, including his threat to withdraw from NAFTA. Beck says this creates uncertainty for American farmers.
让贝克担心的其它迹象来自于川普总统,包括他威胁要退出北美自由贸易协定。贝克表示,这给美国农民制造了不确定性。

Tamara Nelsen works for the Illinois Farm Bureau, a non-profit group working for the state's farmers.
塔玛拉·内尔森(Tamara Nelsen)就职于伊利诺伊州农场局,这是一家为该州农民服务的非营利性组织。

"If you have a shock -- like pulling out of TPP or not keeping the agreement going on NAFTA, it makes the markets nervous and it lowers the farmers' farm income."
内尔森说:“如果发生了退出TPP或者不遵守北美自贸协定这样令人吃惊的事,市场就会紧张,农民的农业收入就会下降。”

Nelsen says many farmers are worried.
内尔森说很多农民都很担心。

"We hope that some of the rhetoric, like anti-trade, anti-exports for agriculture, will turn around and we'll actually have some achievements."
 内尔森说:“我们希望反贸易、反农业出口之类的言论会有所改变,也希望谈判取得一些进展。”

Farmer Ken Beck says he hopes only small changes will be made to NAFTA. And he says he hopes that whatever changes are made take place soon.
农民贝克表示,他希望NAFTA协议只会做出些微变动。他还希望尽快修改协议,无论结果如何。

"Decisions in the next few weeks are going to have to be made for next year already."
贝克说:“ 他们必须在未来几个星期内为明年的发展做出决定。”