Congressman Thornberry votes in favor of USMCA

WASHINGTON– Congressman Mac Thornberry (R-Clarendon) voted today for the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

Under the current trade agreement, NAFTA, all agricultural tariffs were phased out to zero except for certain products, which include U.S. imports from Canada of dairy products, peanuts, peanut butter, cotton, and sugar, and Canadian imports from the United States of dairy products, poultry, eggs, and margarine. All food and agricultural products that have zero tariffs under NAFTA would remain at zero under USMCA, and market access would be expanded for the additional agricultural products traded between Canada and the United States.

“Our trade partnerships with Mexico and Canada are important to the well-being of our economy. USMCA is a win for farmers, ranchers, manufactures, and the American economy,”said Thornberry. “This agreement is good for our markets. It is important that Americans have open markets in which to sell goods.”

How will this agreement affect you?

• Eliminates the NAFTA loophole that exempts purchases by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) from the “Buy American” requirements known as the Kissell Amendment, affecting cotton.  TSA will now be required to purchase uniforms made ofAmerican-grown cotton. In Fiscal Year 2017, TSA purchased approximately $34 million worth of textile and apparel products.
• Texas currently exports more than any other state to Mexico and is second in exports to Canada. This totaled $137 billion worth of products to North American partners in 2018.
• More than 950,000 jobs in Texas are supported by trade with Mexico and Canada including 60,400 jobs supported by exporting agriculture products.
• The annual value of Texas’ agricultural exports to our North American neighbors total more than $7.2 billion.
• Economy-wide models estimate that USMCA will increase America’s GDP by about $68.2 billion and employment by 176,000full-time jobs.
• Wages are expected to increase for workers in all fields by .27 percent or $150 per worker per year.
• U.S.agricultural exports to Mexico and Canada would increase by $2.2 billion, when implemented.