Press Releases

Today, Congressman Glenn Grothman (R-Glenbeulah) released the following statement after President Donald Trump signed the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) into law:

“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,” said Grothman. “Wisconsin's manufacturers, our 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 will also place greater scrutiny on products being sent to Mexico and Canada from China, who, through NAFTA loopholes, was able to penetrate U.S. markets through our neighboring countries.

President Clinton finalized NAFTA in the 1990s and we knew it was a bad deal from the start. NAFTA prompted the loss of 700,000 jobs by moving production facilities outside of the U.S. President Bush did nothing to fix this problem and we, of course, saw no action from President Obama. The USMCA will encourage greater production here at home. 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 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. These leaders, along with hundreds of businesses and trade associations, agree that the USMCA updates the outdated North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and is beneficial to workers in all countries, particularly the U.S. agricultural and manufacturing industries.

On December 19, 2019, more than a year later, the trade agreement was brought to a vote by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, where it passed with overwhelming bipartisan support by a 385-41 margin.

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. In Wisconsin, 231,000 jobs rely on trade with Mexico and Canada. Nearly $11 billion in goods and services in Wisconsin were exported to Mexico and Canada in 2017.

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U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman is serving his third term representing Wisconsin’s 6th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.