Valley farmers unhappy with President Trump's withdrawal from trade deal

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- President Donald Trump made good on a campaign promise to remove the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Some farmers and ranchers in Washington DC for the Presidential Inauguration said Trump understood the Valley's water woes, but farmers weren't happy he dropped a trade deal Monday.

The President signed an executive order to withdraw the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The TPP was a free trade agreement with 11 pacific rim countries.

Valley farmers worry the President's decision may cast a dark cloud over the ag industry.

"Much of our industry is export-based, so opening up these partnerships around the world are so critically important to us," Ryan Jacobsen with the Fresno County Farm Bureau said.

The American Farm Bureau says the TPP could've resulted in a $4 billion boost for food producers who ship 25 percent of their product overseas.

"But when you look at California, that number, particularly within certain commodities, is much, much higher," Jacobsen explained. "You just take the California almond for example. We produce 83 percent of the world's supply of almonds and 80 percent of those are exported."

Manuel Cunha of the Nisei Farmers League says a workable immigration policy for undocumented workers is essential to keep farmers and food processors afloat.

"Especially in California," he said. "We've got to legalize those workers that are here hard-working. They're not criminals, they're not felons, they're not rapists."

The TPP was negotiated by former President Obama. Instead of the TPP, Trump says the us will work with each country individually.