DES MOINES — Republican Governor Kim Reynolds says the nation’s southern border needs to be secured, but she says “it cannot be done on the backs of Iowa farmers.”

Reynolds says she hopes Trump “rethinks” imposing new tariffs on Mexico — or the new trade agreement is endangered. “We’re at a critical time right now and it’s time sensitive,” Reynolds says. “I was so happy when we finally got the negotiation done to create the USMCA and now we need congress to ratify it.”

President Trump’s top trade negotiator sent a formal letter to congress Thursday, signaling the Trump Administration will formally submit the U-S-M-C-A to congress within 30 days. Officials in CANADA took a formal step earlier this week toward ratifying the agreement — before the president threatened new tariffs on Mexico, the other party to the deal.