Trade deal will benefit small business
The Spokesman-Review | January 21, 2020
With the U.S. Senate passing the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) last week, Washington small businesses are one step closer to benefiting from the trade agreement. Considering Canada and Mexico are the U.S.’s largest trading partners combined with our state’s shared border with Canada, the impact of the USMCA is substantial to small firms in Washington state. Consider this: 90% of companies that export goods from Washington and 85% of companies that export goods from Idaho are small firms. In 2018, $11.5 billion in exports from Washington state and $1.2 billion in exports from Idaho went to Canada and Mexico alone. From transportation equipment, electronic products and machinery to our coveted agricultural and food products, Washington and Idaho small businesses are selling what our trade partners in Canada and Mexico want to buy.