photo by: Associated Press

President Donald Trump listens during a phone call with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto about a trade agreement between the United States and Mexico, in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Aug. 27, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

TOPEKA – Senior Kansas Republicans this week applauded President Donald Trump for reaching a tentative trade deal with Mexico.

But at least one, U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts, who chairs the Senate Agriculture Committee, also expressed skepticism of a proposed emergency aid package for farmers who are being adversely affected by retaliatory tariffs that other major trading partners have imposed on U.S. agricultural products.

On Monday, the White House announced that it intends to sign a bilateral trade agreement with Mexico that would supersede the 24-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, which is a three-way pact between the U.S., Mexico and Canada.

Canada, Kansas’ biggest export market, so far has not signed on to the proposed trade pact and is still in negotiations over rewriting NAFTA.

Any new trade pact would still need approval from Congress.

The announcement of the bilateral trade deal followed an announcement over the weekend by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue that would make up to $12 billion available for farmers who have been adversely affected by the administration’s escalating trade conflicts with major U.S. trading partners. The administration says it can approve it without congressional approval.

“I thank President Trump for his work to improve trade relations with one of our top trading partners,” Roberts said in a statement, adding, “I’m hopeful the Administration will move quickly on securing a beneficial trade deal with Canada in the coming days.”

Also, though, Roberts referred to the aid package for farmers as “temporary relief,” adding that farmers “want the predictability of export markets over aid.”

Kansas’ junior senator, Jerry Moran, called the proposed U.S.-Mexico trade deal “a needed step in beginning to inject certainty back into our trade policies.” But he added, “still, we need to re-engage Canada – the top export market for Kansas in 2017 – to reach a trilateral consensus and deescalate ongoing tariff disputes worldwide to provide our nation’s producers with a larger degree of market expectations and stability.”

According to published reports, the proposed trade deal includes a number of provisions important to Kansas.

For the automotive industry, a major employer in the Kansas City metropolitan area, it would require at least 75 percent of the value of new vehicles to be produced in either the U.S. or Mexico, with 40 to 45 percent of the value being produced by workers earning at least $16 an hour.

It would also extend the current NAFTA policy of zero tariffs on agricultural products traded between the two countries.

Gov. Jeff Colyer noted in a statement that the proposed deal also includes provisions calling for greater information exchange on issues surrounding agricultural biotechnology, including gene editing.

“Kansas is heavily dependent on the agricultural and manufacturing industries and it is a huge relief to our state to know that we can continue trading tariff-free with the new agreement,” Colyer said in the statement.

Colyer will not be in office by the time the new treaty goes into full effect because he lost the GOP primary for governor to Secretary of State Kris Kobach.

But Kobach, a strong Trump ally who had the president’s endorsement during the primary, also praised the proposed trade deal, saying it would benefit both the auto and agricultural industries in Kansas.

Democratic candidate Laura Kelly and independent candidate Greg Orman did not issue statements about the proposed trade deal or farm aid package.