San Antonio area business leaders are applauding today's announcement that the U.S. and Mexico have reached a successor agreement to the North American Free Trade Agreement, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
The tentative agreement, which excludes Canada and is simply an agreement between the U.S. and Mexico, was announced today by President Trump and Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto.
"I am beyond delighted that we have reached a preliminary trade agreement with Mexico, Texas’ most important trading partner," San Antonio Chamber of Commerce President Richard Perez said. "While we celebrate an important step in our relationship with Mexico, it is imperative that we remain committed to modernizing the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which includes our second largest trading partner, Canada."
The uncertain future of NAFTA had been listed by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas as one of the dark clouds on the otherwise sunny Texas economic outlook for the rest of this year.
NAFTA, which was initialed by the leaders of Canada and Mexico and the U.S. in San Antonio, is seen as a major driver of San Antonio's strong economy. Several major economic steps, including the decision by Toyota to build its truck plant in San Antonio, have been directly credited to NAFTA
."While this entire process could have been avoided without the dramatization and harsh rhetoric from the administration, which has created uncertainty for business and stifled growth, this preliminary deal presents us with the opportunity to modernize the trilateral agreement which has grown trade between the United States, Canada, and Mexico from $290 billion in 1993 to over $1.1 trillion in 2016," Border Congressman Henry Cuellar (D-Laredo) said of today's announcement, calling NAFTA an 'integral part of our economy.'
Cuellar called on the White House to immediately move to finalize a similar trade deal with Canada.
President Trump's tariff policies have caused concern for free market advocates and have raised the risk of rising inflation as the cost of tariffs are added to the cost of products.
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