ROSSLYN, Va — NEMA welcomes the announcement made October 1, 2018, by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland of an agreement to modernize a key platform for the global competitiveness of the U.S. electrical manufacturing industry: the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The agreement, entitled the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), contains a series of commitments of material importance to U.S. electroindustry manufacturers, including in the areas of market access, standards and conformity assessment, and regulatory cooperation.
“Mexico and Canada are top and valued trading partners and are, to a great extent, essential cogs in NEMA Member companies’ supply chains,” said NEMA President and CEO Kevin J. Cosgriff. “We will review the terms of the USMCA agreement with our Member companies and industry counterpart organizations.
“Our assessment will inform further consultations with the Administration, Congress, and counterparts in preparation for legislative action to implement the commitments and bring them into force,” Cosgriff added.
The U.S., Mexico, and Canada launched negotiations in August 2017 to modernize NAFTA.
On September 30, the U.S. and Canada concluded negotiations successfully to keep the successor agreement to NAFTA trilateral. It is expected NAFTA will remain in force until the USMCA enters into force at a date to be determined in 2019 or 2020.
Tagged with NAFTA, NEMA, USMCA