United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement
Floor Speech
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Mr. ESTES. Mr. Speaker, throughout our district work period, I visited farms, ranches, manufacturing plants, and small businesses where people all said the same thing: It is time to pass the USMCA now. Farmers, ranchers, and workers in Kansas understand how important this monumental trade deal is, and they want it done now.
On November 30, 2018, the United States, Mexico, and Canada signed a monumental free and fair trade agreement for our countries. Since then, Mexico has made significant labor reforms and adopted the USMCA, while Canada is not far behind.
Unfortunately, here at home, the USMCA is stuck in purgatory. Congress failed to bring the USMCA to a vote over the summer, while some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle continue to slow walk and delay a vote to ratify the USMCA.
While my colleagues may want to deny, or at least delay, any victory for President Trump, the only people hurt by delaying the USMCA are hardworking American farmers, ranchers, manufacturers, and families.
Currently, more than 12 million American jobs depend on trade with Canada and Mexico. As is the case for 45 other States, Canada and Mexico are Kansas' top two trading partners, worth $4.9 billion every year, while supporting 110,000 jobs in my State alone. This impact underscores just how important the USMCA is for our country.
According to the U.S. International Trade Commission, the USMCA will create 176,000 new jobs and increase U.S. GDP by $68 billion. Exports to USMCA partners will grow by $33.3 billion, and imports from the USMCA partners will grow by $31.5 billion.
Overall, the update to NAFTA will create jobs, boost wages, and open up new markets for American agriculture and manufacturing. It also sets unprecedented standards for areas like intellectual property, small businesses, and the environment.
This is a significant improvement over NAFTA, which was actually beneficial to my district in Kansas, especially for our farmers, ranchers, and aerospace manufacturers. However, the 25-year-old NAFTA agreement was outdated and badly in need of reform and modernization.
Consider that, when NAFTA was first negotiated in 1992, Motorola cell phones were carried around in a bag, and just one in five households had a home computer. Even fewer than that could connect to a dial-up internet in order to access the world wide web, which had just been unveiled in 1991.
Clearly, a lot has changed in the last 25 years, and our laws and trade deals should change as well.
As Representative of the Air Capital of the World and the breadbasket of America, I know that USMCA is critical for manufacturers, farmers, and ranchers throughout Kansas and our country. That is why I am proud to serve today on the whip team, led by Whip Steve Scalise, to help get the USMCA finalized in Congress.
Earlier today, our team met with Ambassador Lighthizer to receive an update on negotiations, and I want to take a moment to again thank him and the entire administration for the work they did to draft the USMCA. Now it is time for Congress to do its part to secure this free and fair trade deal that farmers, ranchers, workers, and families in the heartland and throughout the country deserve.
As a fierce advocate for free and fair trade, I believe a trade agreement with Canada and Mexico is crucial for Kansas and our country. However, President Trump is right to insist that trade deals both be fair and free.
Free trade allows us to export our quality agriculture and manufactured goods around the globe, while fair trade enables us to do so at a fair price without intellectual property infringement. The USMCA accomplishes both of these goals.
I have several Members here with me tonight who also want to talk.
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Mr. ESTES. Mr. Speaker, Mr. Perry said a lot of things that are really valid there and important to us.
I have several other Members who want to talk about how important things are.
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Mr. ESTES. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate Representative Balderson's efforts and involvement in this.
I yield to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Grothman), my colleague.
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Mr. ESTES. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman's time and participation in this very important topic tonight.
Now I yield to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Schweikert), my friend.
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Mr. ESTES. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman very much for his comments. The gentleman pointed out so much about how important it is to get that economic growth so that we have got the value in the economy and how much effort that Mexico has made, already changing the laws in their country to make sure that it is a much more viable process for them, and it is more productive for them as well.
Mr. Speaker, I come from Kansas, and specifically in my district, we have a lot of agriculture and a lot of issues there. And the USMCA is a great improvement for the agriculture area. It sets some unprecedented standards for agriculture, regulation, and biotechnology.
It maintains duty-free access for American farmers in Mexico, and provides new access for U.S. wheat, eggs, dairy, and poultry. In fact, the International Trade Commission estimates an additional $277 million in increased dairy sales to our North American partners under USMCA. That is a 44 percent increase that will bring a much-needed lift to the U.S. dairy industry.
Another area is manufacturing. USMCA maintains a duty-free access for U.S. manufactured goods and removes some of the existing barriers for remanufactured goods, opening up a lot of new markets for American products.
It encourages U.S. manufacturing by requiring 75 percent of auto content to be produced in North America. The Office of the United States Trade Representative estimates that USMCA will add $34 billion in automotive investment and create 76,000 new American jobs.
It also incentivizes higher wages, requiring 40 to 50 percent of auto content to be made by workers making at least $16 an hour, helping to boost wages across many manufacturing sectors.
It requires Mexico to pass some sweeping labor reforms to improve standards there and create an even more even playing field for American labor. Mexico has already followed through and enacted these reforms which are already benefiting U.S. manufacturing.
Canada and Mexico buy more products manufactured in America than our next 10 trading partners. Exports of manufactured goods to Canada and Mexico account for more than 2 million jobs across our country.
As a representative of Wichita, I have seen firsthand how important it is that our manufacturers have access to global markets. Transportation equipment exports account for $2.7 billion last year, and the growth in manufactured goods, exports from Kansas, grew 8.5 percent from 2010 to 2018.
In addition, Kansas aerospace exports to Canada and Mexico have increased by more than 20 percent over the last decade, helping grow the total value of manufactured goods exported from Kansas to Canada and Mexico to $3.2 billion in 2018. These numbers underscore the importance of USMCA for American manufacturing.
I wanted to mention that I have got some other representatives here who also have a big impact and a lot of value to add to that. Right now I would like to call on my friend and colleague from Pennsylvania.
I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Keller).
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Mr. ESTES. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman's time and involvement in this.
I would also now like to call on a friend of mine and colleague from the great State of Indiana.
I yield to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Baird).
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Mr. ESTES. Representative Roger Marshall is my fellow Kansan and colleague.
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Mr. ESTES. Mr. Speaker, I thank all the Members who have joined us tonight.
As President Trump has often pointed out, many of our trade deals have not always created the best outcomes for American workers and products, but by approving the USMCA, we can take one giant step in overhauling one of the most fundamental trade deals with our closest neighbors. We can also create a great template for success, especially if we turn our focus to improving trade relations with China and other countries.
As we stated tonight, there is no time like the present to get started moving this process forward, making sure that every provision of the deal is enforceable so we can get the USMCA across the finish line. The cost of delay is too great for our farmers, ranchers, manufacturers, small businesses, entrepreneurs, and families.
Again, I thank my colleagues for joining me tonight, and I ask this body to pass the USMCA now.
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