NAFTA and Electro-Federation Canada

September 1, 2017

By Carol McGlogan

The renegotiation of NAFTA draws headlines in Canada as this critical agreement between Canada, Mexico and the United States has been a key pillar of our economic performance for the last 25 years. The “undoing” of NAFTA will send supply chains into a tizzy and ultimately make all of us in North America less competitive globally.

Electro-Federation Canada worked with NEMA (National Electrical Manufacturers Association) in the U.S., CME (Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters), and our own Canadian membership community to identify the strategic priorities and initiatives to be included in NAFTA.

We were expecting to see opposing points of view, especially between NEMA and our Canadian-owned manufacturing organizations. To our surprise, we discovered that the priorities for NEMA and our Canadian companies along with CME were aligned. The alignment was further supported by the statistics we gathered from our manufacturer members, which showed that the flow of goods within our membership is truly global. For our Canadian-owned companies, open access to a market more than 10 times bigger than our own is an absolute necessity for growth and cost efficiencies.

We all want the same things: an open market, free of barriers to trade with each other; the adoption of best practices that will allow for more efficient product, information and people flow within the region; and an agreement that does not penalize the investments already made by companies to support their supply chain strategies.

Our voice is heard through CME in Canada, as we co-signed a letter to Prime Minister Trudeau outlining our position. According to CME, the tone of the negotiations has been largely collaborative and constructive despite the recent news and social media reports.

It is difficult to predict the results of the negotiations given the unpredictability of the current United States Administration. We can only hope that cooler heads prevail as the facts speak for themselves in promoting a more open and efficient trade region that is ready to compete and survive in this global economy.

Carol McGlogan is President & CEO, Electro-Federation Canada.