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The United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement has been enormously beneficial for manufacturing in the United States, so it’s an “engine … we want to keep humming,” the NAM said at a recent Atlantic Council event on the treaty.

What’s going on: The USMCA “is the most pro-U.S. manufacturing trade agreement that’s ever existed,” NAM Director of International Policy Kevin Doyle said at last Thursday’s “Driving the next chapter in the U.S.–Mexico agenda” panel discussion in Washington, D.C.

• “The regional co-production model that has been enabled by the USMCA has been a boon for manufacturing in the United States, to the tune of $2.9 trillion in contribution to GDP last year.”
• The Atlantic Council event came on the heels of NAM testimony on the agreement to officials from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and departments of Commerce, State and Treasury. NAM Managing Vice President of Policy Charles Crain told them the U.S. should preserve and strengthen the USMCA at the agreement’s six-month review next July.

Why it’s vital: U.S. “trade with Mexico and Canada is just so important,” Doyle continued on the Atlantic Council panel. “[O]ne-third of all U.S. goods exports go to Mexico and Canada. … [And] when we added it up, Mexico and Canada combined as export markets for U.S. goods are more than the next 12 trading partners combined.”

• Trade between the three nations is valued at up to $2.8 million per minute, Doyle added.

AI dominance: Manufacturers in the U.S. see the upcoming USMCA review as an opportunity to foster a favorable policy environment across the three countries to accelerate innovation and secure American leadership on AI and Industry 4.0.

• “[T]he free flow of industrial data is just so important. … Luckily, the USMCA already has incredibly strong digital trade provisions,” Doyle said. “And so we think those should be sustained, maintained as appropriate and increased and strengthened.”
• “But more importantly than anything … we have to use the existing structures, dispute-settlement mechanisms, committees [and] working groups that already exist to raise these issues and push them forward.”