Issue Position: Protecting and Expanding Our Economy

Issue Position

Every year, $90 billion of trade comes across our ports of entry, making cross-border trade one of the most important components of our local economy. One of four jobs in El Paso is a result of trade, and the purchasing power of our neighbors positively impacts innumerable small and large businesses locally. While NAFTA had an initial devastating impact on El Paso, increasing our unemployment rate and sending our local economy reeling, El Paso re-tooled and took advantage of our strategic international location in order to benefit as much as possible from free-trade. Border tariffs and the dismantling of NAFTA pose a significant threat to our local jobs and economy.

I will work hard to defeat efforts to implement border tariffs, I will defend the gains made through trade, and if NAFTA is re-negotiated, I will work to ensure that we expand protections for workers, local businesses and the environment. I plan to open an Office of Border Economic and Public Policy and work with other leaders to continue to grow jobs and raise incomes for El Paso's hard-working families.

Source