New Mexico business leaders show strong support for NAFTA
EL PASO – As talks to renegotiate NAFTA began Wednesday, New Mexico border business leaders gathered here for a summit with a message for the Trump administration: Don’t turn back the clock.
“Ninety percent of what we do is focused on trade with Mexico,” said Ed Camden, president of Santa Teresa-based Southwest Steel Coil. “To say southern New Mexico is engaged with trade with Mexico is an understatement.”
Camden was one of several business leaders from New Mexico attending a two-day trade summit organized by the Borderplex Alliance, which promotes regional economic development in southern New Mexico, El Paso and Ciudad Juárez. The region is one of the most dynamic global trade corridors and has a lot riding on the outcome of the NAFTA renegotiation talks in Washington.
President Donald Trump has called the North American Free Trade Agreement “maybe one of the worst trade deals ever signed anywhere,” blaming cheap labor in Mexico for the loss of U.S. jobs and the $62 billion-plus trade deficit. Trump threatened to scrap the 1994 agreement and impose a border tax of as much as 20 percent on imports. Last April, he decided not to withdraw, but left the option open should talks not deliver what he deems a fair deal.
Read more: https://www.abqjournal.com/1049038/nm-business-leaders-show-strong-support-for-nafta.html