News

ISSA Praises U.S. Senate for Passing USMCA

On January 16, the U.S. Senate voted 89-10 to approve the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). The trade deal with Canada and Mexico is a bipartisan update of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) from 1994. U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to sign the bill and then, once Canada approves the agreement, it will go into effect.

“Passage of USMCA is extremely important to manufacturers and distributors of cleaning chemicals, products, and equipment,” said John Nothdurft, director of government affairs for ISSA. “The updated trade agreement with our two largest trading partners is critical to the cleaning industry. Similarly, cleaning service providers, their employees, and consumers will see benefits by having access to a wide array of cleaning product choices, more affordably. ISSA, on behalf of its more than 9,200 members, would like to thank the U.S. Congress for passing USMCA.”

ISSA has been an active member of U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) Coalition, a group of more than 400 U.S. companies and associations that were working to secure congressional approval of the trade agreement. According to the coalition’s website, “The USMCA maintains tariff-free access to Mexico for American exporters. For Canada, it maintains the current tariff-free access for 99% of U.S. products and eliminates some remaining barriers facing U.S. dairy and poultry exports. The agreement preserves and strengthens America’s strong trade ties to Canada and Mexico. Importantly, it includes groundbreaking provisions on digital trade, intellectual property, and other issues that will bring North American trade into the 21st century.”

Additionally, ISSA has signed onto numerous coalition letters, launched an email campaign in its Action Center, and attended coalition meetings urging Congress to pass USMCA.