Contact: Timothy Svoboda, (202) 225-2476
(Washington, D.C.) – Today, the U.S. House of Representatives was finally given a vote on the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which passed with overwhelming bipartisan support. Congressman Glenn Grothman (R-Glenbeulah) released the following statement after the vote:
“The USMCA is the 21st century solution we need to promote free trade, economic growth and continued cooperation between the United States, Mexico and Canada. This trade agreement should have been taken up by Congress a year ago,” said Grothman. “Wisconsin’s world-famous dairy industry, and our entire agriculture sector, will benefit from the USMCA trade agreement. Additionally, the 231,000 Wisconsin jobs and nearly $11 billion worth of Wisconsin exports supported by trade with Canada and Mexico will be provided a better playing field. The USMCA also repairs glaring holes in NAFTA that have, for too long, allowed China to penetrate North American markets.
While it was disappointing to see 38 Democrats vote against this improved trade deal, I applaud President Trump for his leadership on the USMCA and am glad that we have a President who is willing to tackle issues that his predecessors, of both parties, refused to address.
The impeachment inquiry, which had bipartisan opposition, took the lion’s share of the focus this week. Nancy Pelosi and House Democratic leadership spent far too much time and taxpayer money on an unfair, unfounded investigation. I am glad that Congress was able to quickly move past that distraction and deliver a win for the American economy and our workers.”
Background
In November of 2018, President Trump, Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau and former President Nieto of Mexico signed the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) at the G20 summit in Argentina. Leaders of each country, along with hundreds of businesses and trade associations, agree that the USMCA updates the outdated North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and will be beneficial to workers in all countries, particularly to U.S. agricultural and manufacturing industries.
More than a year has passed and the trade agreement has just now been brought to a vote by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
This deal represents a huge upgrade from NAFTA and benefits virtually every industry in our economy from agriculture and manufacturing to digital trade and e-commerce. This is great news for Wisconsin, where our local economy is fueled by agriculture and manufacturing. In particular, dairy farmers in Wisconsin will see significant relief from this trade agreement. Under the USMCA, U.S. dairy farmers will be able to export the equivalent of 3.6% of Canada’s dairy market, more than tripling the existing level of approximately 1%.
Canada and Mexico represent two of our top three trading partners and account for one quarter of all U.S. exports. Nearly $11 billion in goods and services from Wisconsin were exported to Mexico and Canada in 2017.
