It has been almost a year since the United States, Mexico and Canada signed the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, a major milestone in modernizing North American trade.
Manufacturers and employees across the country now look to Congress, where the White House is expected to submit USMCA this fall for a congressional vote. If the divided Congress doesn’t act quickly, the United States risks major supply chain disruptions that would burden small businesses across the country.
Failing to move forward on USMCA and breaking down decades of North American trade relationships would spell chaos for manufacturers, suppliers, employees on both sides of the border and especially small businesses.
Take, for example, Indiana-based Altex, a manufacturer of wiring assemblies that form the neural networks used in dozens of products from train brakes to wheelchair-accessible vans, ambulances and medical devices. Altex designs, engineers and sources most of its raw materials from the U.S, manufacturing the wiring assemblies in Indiana and Mexico, later shipping its finished goods to customers in the U.S. and beyond. Without USMCA, well-paying engineering and management jobs in Indiana would be at risk, and dozens of vital products would be made more expensive for U.S. consumers.
Altex is just one of the thousands of American businesses that rely on trade with Mexico to thrive in today’s globally connected economy. Their business operations highlight the unique dynamics that define North American trade.
Read the full article from the Indianapolis Business Journal.
