Business Roundtable Statement on NAFTA Negotiations
August 27, 2018
Washington — Business Roundtable today issued the following statement regarding a preliminary agreement between the U.S. and Mexico to update the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA):
“Business Roundtable is encouraged to see progress on NAFTA negotiations, and we look forward to reviewing the details of the preliminary agreement between the U.S. and Mexico. The structure of the U.S. trading relationship with Canada and Mexico must remain trilateral. Replacing NAFTA with one or two bilateral agreements would create more regulatory burdens, disrupt North American supply chains and hurt U.S. workers and businesses. Any effort to withdraw from NAFTA altogether would endanger millions of U.S. jobs and harm the competitiveness of U.S. companies.
“In modernizing NAFTA, the touchstone of success is whether changes improve – rather than weaken – NAFTA for U.S. workers and businesses. Business Roundtable has concerns that today’s announcement might signal not an improvement, but rather a step backward by requiring a sunset provision, weakening investment protections and constraining access to dispute settlement procedures. Any final agreement with Mexico and Canada should expand trade, not restrict it.”