The National Taxpayers Union (NTU) welcomes news that the United States, Mexico, and Canada have agreed to changes that will allow the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) to move forward.
USMCA mostly maintains the best part of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA): Tariff-free trade within North America. As initially negotiated, USMCA included several other changes that NTU summarized last year.
One area of improvement included in USMCA is the chapter covering trade in digital services. USMCA generally upgrades NAFTA to include this important segment of the U.S. economy. Agricultural and energy producers, among others, also have spoken out in support of USMCA.
On the other hand, taxpayers could regret the decision to eliminate without a replacement the 10-year IP safeguards for biologic drugs. NTU has stressed that both domestic and trade policy toward pharmaceuticals must carefully balance the need for development of innovative cures and the need for affordable access, to ensure benefits from both long-term and intermediate-term savings. Officials must now work on other policies that maintain this balance and strengthen U.S. leadership.
According to Bryan Riley, Director of NTU’s Free Trade Initiative,
“U.S. trade agreements are, at their core, tax-cutting agreements, since they eliminate most taxes on trade. It will be important to review the changes that were made to USMCA after it was signed last year. Hopefully, the new revisions include no poison pills, and Congress can move forward to consider an agreement that locks in many of NAFTA’s benefits for the foreseeable future.”
To speak with Bryan Riley on the evolving USMCA deal, which is expected to be taken up by the House of Representatives today, contact NTU Vice President of Communications Kevin Glass at 703-299-8670 or at kglass@ntu.org.