Progressive Policy Institute analysis finds it’s important to get to “Yes” on USMCA

Progressive Policy Institute analysis finds it’s important to get to “Yes” on USMCA

Author: Marie Sanderson

This morning the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) released a report explaining why “get[ting] to ‘yes’” on the USMCA is important to U.S. businesses, local communities, and American workers.

The report stresses the importance of the North American economic relationship and the 12 million American jobs this partnership supports. According to PPI, Canada is the number one goods export market for over 30 states, and Mexico is the top market for an additional seven states. Specifically, the report highlights how America’s small- and medium-sized businesses rely heavily on exports to Canada and Mexico.

In this report, PPI provides an analysis on how the USMCA modernizes and improves the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to ensure it’s a better deal for the United States.

According to the report, the USMCA will:

  • Establish strong and enforceable labor and environmental rules, which were not included in the text of NAFTA;
  • Establish the most comprehensive set of rules on digital commerce in any international trade agreement;
  • Cut red tape for U.S small businesses with the first chapter on small- and medium-sized businesses in a U.S. trade agreement;
  • Provide greater access to Canada’s once-restrictive dairy market;
  • Enhance protections and enforcement for copyrights, patents, trademarks, and trade secrets;
  • Update provisions on cross-border data transfers, to allow more financial services trade among the three nations;
  • Furthermore, PPI’s analysis shows that boosting the ability of small businesses to trade and export with our neighbors will “democratize” trade by allowing more diverse businesses to thrive.

PPI goes on to explain that trade with Mexico and Canada has been hugely beneficial to local American communities:

  • The San Diego region’s economy is now larger than Vietnam’s;
  • Texas border cities have been transformed by cross-border trade, creating thousands of small businesses and cutting unemployment; and
  • Kansas City, although located nowhere near either border, sends over half of their exports to Canada and Mexico, providing significant support to the local economy.

You can read the full report here.