USMCA Was a Hot Topic at 2019 U.S.-Mexico Border Summit

At the U.S.-Mexico Border Summit in El Paso, Texas, U.S. Representative Will Hurd (TX-23); Raymond Robertson, Texas-Mexico Center Senior Fellow; and U.S.-Mexico Foundation Chair Emilio Cadena addressed the importance of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) to the North American region and its consumers.

Representative Hurd shared his optimism to pass the agreement by the end of the year, despite the tight timeline. The panel contended that, without USMCA, North America is in danger of being surpassed by Asia as a competitive power and North American consumers will lose out.

Raymond Robertson, Texas-Mexico Center Senior Fellow, shared that trade with Mexico helps keep the U.S. in competition with the rest of the world. He also noted that the vast majority of job losses in the U.S. happened as a result of increased trade with China, not Mexico.

U.S.-Mexico Foundation Chair Emilio Cadena joined Robertson in emphasizing the allure of the Mexican market to the U.S. Cadena states, “Mexico is the most attractive market to the U.S. We are ok with racing, the only thing we’d like to know is, if we’ll be playing football or basketball.”

They all agreed that USMCA is good for the American consumer and that it is projected to create nearly 200,000 jobs and $70 billion in new GDP by further opening export markets to virtually every kind of American business.