U.S. lawmakers should “expeditiously consider and ratify” the country’s new trade agreement with Canada and Mexico, says the Associated Equipment Distributors.
In an April 9 letter to Congressional leaders — including House speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell — AED president and CEO Brian P. McGuire urged
AED president and CEO Brian P. McGuire urged Congress to ratify the new United States-Mexico-Canadian Agreement “as soon as permissible.”
Congress to ratify the new United States-Mexico-Canadian Agreement “as soon as permissible.”
The AED’s 450 member companies — who employ 130,000 workers in the three countries and have annual sales of $54 billion — “are uniquely impacted by the trade uncertainty in North America,” McGuire wrote. “The USMCA modernizes and strengthens the trade ties between the three countries, which will boost economic growth and job creation here in the United States.”
The letter notes that although the U.S. construction industry is expanding economically, trade uncertainly remains a major concern for equipment dealers.
“The USMCA will help restore predictability to North American trade markets, while limiting disruptions to the construction equipment supply chain that causes delays in product delivery and increased costs for equipment purchasers,” McGuire wrote.
Dennis Slater, president of the Association of Equipment Manufacturers, made a similar plea in an April 11 posting on the AEM website.
In March, the AED’s executive committee met with lawmakers on Capitol Hill and at the White House “to push for long-term, robustly funded infrastructure investment legislation,” the AED reported on its website.
-30-