I am Rachel Connell. I'm the vice president of NASCO, which stands for North American Strategy for Competitiveness. And we're a tri-national coalition that connects businesses, governments, educational institutions and stakeholders across the US, Canada and Mexico.
And as Luis mentioned, we are the only trilateral organization of our kind. We were formed in 1994 right before the passage of NAFTA. And so, we are celebrating our 30th anniversary this year, along with the Pharr Bridge.
For businesses and industry that are involved in exports, supply chain, trade infrastructure, NASCO offers a platform for connecting with stakeholders across North America. And we've developed that over the last 30 years and done a great job of that.
The Pharr International Bridge has been a member of NASCO for, I'm going to say, ten-plus years now, Luis, check a and Edgar. We kind of commonly refer to them as the three amigos around North America. The three of them are often together, and they're doing a great job promoting far the bridge. And why folks should be, you know, bringing their business through this community.
This year, as I mentioned, is extra special, because we're celebrating 30 years of NAFTA, 30 years of NASCO and the 30 years of the Pharr Inational Bridge.
North American trade is thriving. We represent a third of the global GDP with regional trade up 15% since USMCA was implemented. Mexico and Canada now lead U.S. goods trade, some of that we've seen in Ken’s presentations, especially with Canadian oil and gas.
But North America must strengthen our supply chains and collaborations to stay ahead. So, today, I’d like to share some thoughts on NAFTA 30 and our North American political landscape, because we all know that our three countries have a lot going on right now.
So, as we all know, NAFTA was a landmark trade deal. It significantly shaped economic relations in North America. It promoted economic integration, boosted exports, reduced tariffs, and expanded markets for businesses. It broadly contributed to the growth of regional trade, economic cooperation, and had a transformative impact on North American trade.
That's a lot of big words. Trade and policy wonks understand it. But the problem that we have is most people out in the USA and North America do not, or if they do not, enough of them, because a lot of them seem very willing to throw it out in favor of the false promise that isolationism will solve all of our problems.
So let's talk about the immediate future, because we find ourselves at a time when NAFTA and USMCA are threatened, questioned and blamed for a lot of things going wrong. The immigration crisis at the border has completely overshadowed the vital need for the safe, secure, efficient movement of freight to serve the needs of our people, and things are more volatile and contentious than ever.
We say this often in NASCO politics is the greatest threat to our North American competitiveness. And we have it coming at us from all sides and every angle these days. We have a high-stakes election in the US. In Mexico, we have AMLO’s judicial reforms, actions on regulatory agencies that are creating uncertainty and deterring investment and, quite frankly, probably violating the USMCA terms. North American scholars warn of a potential US trade war Mexico. Meanwhile, we have Canada’s federal election next year in 2025.
We all face the ongoing threat of China, as well as global uncertainty with wars in Russia and Ukraine, Israel, Palestine, things that Ken touched on. So there is a lot happening for our North American region. It is a turbulent, politically-driven environment. I don't mean to seem completely negative. There are positive things happening too, but there is a lot happening that we all need to be keeping up with.
One of those big things is the USMCA review. The agreement has six years before there is a review point where the three governments get together and say, is this working? Is it not? And there's a lot of uncertainty as to what that might look like right now and how that could go. Obviously, President Trump has had a lot to say about trade and tariffs, but at the end of the day, he helped renegotiate the USMCA. And so I think that he might be less likely to tear it up. But, I will say, Canada and Mexico right now are very uncertain as to what this looks like. We're hoping that our NASCO rallying cry with our members and our organization is that we can review and we can amend this trade agreement. We don't have to tear it up. We don't have to start over. It is a great agreement. There are things we can tweak.
So that is one point. But we need more policymakers and high level staff to come down here and to visit the border. Those who negotiate, review or implement USMCA should see how crucial the border is to North American trade, supply chain and freight movement, and deeply consider how their policies will affect trade, the businesses and the people who support it.
Recently, we had some conversations at NASCO with USTR, the United States Trade Representative's Office, and they shared with us that - and these are the policymakers and folks working on USMCA - that they had not themselves been to the border. And we, our NASCO president nearly leapt out of her chair and into the stream and said to these guys, you have to come to the border and see this first hand, see what's happening at the bridges, see how the trade is moving, see all the different players that it takes to make this work. And so we had them recently with us in Laredo a few weeks ago.
And I would love Luis and the team… we've been talking about coming down here and doing a tour of the Valley for our members as well. So, things like that. Having policy makers come and see with their own eyes what's happening. It is so critical.
The southern border regions are literally the epicenter for North American commerce, for freight movement and integrated supply chains. And when everything is running smoothly and working well, you have a monumental responsibility for the entire continent. And it's often a thankless job with extreme criticism. And there are political stunts and there are lies, and there are people that are just misinformed. But the topics of trade and technology and freight movement and supply chains aren't that exciting to most people, which hurts my heart a little. They don't want to listen and much less actually take the time to learn about it. So we have our work cut out. We need to educate more people about the USMCA benefits at a time when attention spans are measured in seconds and the news is full of radical and scary things, all far more captivating than integrated supply chains and trade.
But we must make our points resonate at a base, personal level. People need to know that everything you touch, you see, you taste, you use, got here on a truck, a train, a ship or a plane. And we say that often at NASCO as well, it got here on a truck, a train, a ship or a plane. And that really just brings it down to a very basic level for folks. That the cost of goods in the marketplace is entirely dependent on transportation costs, on fuel costs, on insurance premiums. These are the key items that free trade agreements, along with investments in infrastructure and technology, keep costs low and create jobs, and that all trade is personal. This is another rallying cry of ours. All trade is personal.
What the past several years have shown us is that we cannot take the USMCA review for granted or relax for a second. Industry needs to use the platform, take advantage of it and celebrate it publicly. Companies need to educate their employees that part or all of their paycheck comes from international trade.
We need to invest in protecting USMCA. Larger companies, or any companies with the ability, need to dedicate high level expert staff to be at critical meetings in person. And it will take money, time and effort beyond what your regular job requires. We need to constantly keep those with the authority to review, improve, or heaven forbid, end USMCA, and the general population who elect those people informed of the benefits this trade agreement delivers for the people of our three countries.
If, heaven forbid, our federal governments can't align on USMCA or trade policy, it will become a sub-national responsibility and more critical than ever for state, provincial and local levels and industry to keep trade moving despite the federal government.
Editor's Note: The above commentary was provided by Rachel Connell, vice president of NASCO (North American Strategy for Competitiveness) at a recent Trade Talks session. The Trade Talks Sessions are hosted by the Pharr Bridge Board.
Editor's Note: The "Luis" that Connell mentioned in her remarks is Luis Bazan, director of Pharr International Bridge. The "Ken" that Connell mentioned in her remarks is Ken Roberts, founder and president of WorldCity.
Editor's Note: Here, below, is an audio recording of everything Rachel Connell said at the Trade Talks session. She was introduced by Luis Bazan, director of the Pharr International Bridge.
