The United States, Mexico, and Canada are close to reaching an agreement to rebalance and modernize the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) into a 21st century, high-standard trade deal. The goal is for the new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) to better serve the interests of American workers and businesses and support mutually beneficial trade leading to freer markets, fairer trade, and robust economic growth in North America. For example, NAFTA was negotiated a quarter-century ago when there was no e-commerce and therefore had no rules in place to foster growth in the age of digital. The proposed USMCA guarantees the freedom to move data across borders and prohibits the forced localization of data, thereby ensuring continued growth for a dynamic area of international commerce. Mexico and Canada are the top two export destinations for U.S. small and medium-sized businesses and more than 12 million American jobs depend on trade with Canada and Mexico. Canada and Mexico have ratified the agreement and we are now waiting on the US Congress for its final approval.
Our USMCA Forum: Connecting to a Global Market event on December 12th will highlight possible outcomes the agreement could have for our area business community. In particular, we will look at how regional manufacturers will experience a more beneficial and balanced trade environment that further supports high-paying jobs for their employees and growing the local economy.
To understand at quick glance the key provisions of the USMCA agreement for the state of Illinois, we have provided a fact sheet provided by the United States Office of the Trade Representative for you to review.
View full pdf here: usmca_illinois.pdf
We hope you can attend the USMCA Forum event on December 12th from 3:00-5:30 pm at White Eagle Golf Club in Naperville to further understand how this important agreement will impact trade in North America.