Rep. Chip RoyCompte certifié

NAFTA needs an update. The need for modernization is clear given that the fundamental makeup of the U.S. economy is notably different than it was in 1994, when President Bill Clinton signed NAFTA into law.

Growth in the health care, energy, technology, construction and retail sectors, coupled with decades of entrepreneurial activity and innovation across the broad spectrum of the U.S. economy have changed the complexion of our workforce in order to meet consumer demands.

USMCA is the greatest opportunity for expansion of trade in the Western Hemisphere, and it will force us to realign our three countries’ trade relationships, and will decrease our trade dependency on communist China.

Chinese government state-owned-enterprises and authoritarian practices distort the global markets through intellectual property theft, inhumane labor standards, currency manipulation, dumping, and other forms of malpractice that the U.S. cannot afford to continue to let slide.

Passage is almost certain provided the deal protects U.S. interests by avoiding overly radical environmental or labor policies, rules of origin standards, or some of the issues mentioned above. Nothing else should be added in to sweeten the deal for a particular radical agenda.

The American people deserve a representative body that is focused on working for them. We should be passing legislation that grows our economy and provides security for the American people. We should immediately vote on a clean USMCA, send it to the president, and ...

get busy spending what little legislative time we have left working to balance the budget, provide a clear mission and the tools to accomplish it for our men and women in uniform, lower health care prices, and otherwise do what the American people sent us to Washington to do.