U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross made a stop in Roanoke Friday to tout President Trump’s NAFTA replacement.
During a roundtable discussion with several local business leaders, Ross said the new proposal – called the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement – would fix problems with NAFTA.
Namely a $1 trillion deficit in goods traded to Mexico since that agreement was established.
Ross said the USMCA would also prove beneficial to Virginia, which trades extensively with America’s closest neighbors:
“Canada and Mexico are Virginia’s first and third largest trading partners respectively. And they account together for 23% of Virginia’s total exports to the world,” Ross explained.
The new agreement still requires Congressional approval. The Roanoke Chamber of Commerce, which hosted the event with Ross, has endorsed it.