{"id":15786,"date":"2018-06-19T14:12:00","date_gmt":"2018-06-19T19:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nrgibroker.com\/?p=15786"},"modified":"2018-06-19T14:12:00","modified_gmt":"2018-06-19T19:12:00","slug":"nafta-negotiations-mixed-feelings-for-us-companies-on-mexican-border","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nrgibroker.com\/en\/nafta-negotiations-mixed-feelings-for-us-companies-on-mexican-border\/","title":{"rendered":"NAFTA negotiations: Mixed feelings for US companies on Mexican border"},"content":{"rendered":"

America CGTN \/ Steve Mort \/ June 18<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The U.S., Canada, and Mexico say talks on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) will press ahead despite Washington\u2019s steel and aluminum tariffs. But recent tensions between the U.S. and Canada are casting doubt on whether a deal is possible.<\/p>\n

At Allen Russell\u2019s warehouse in the border city of El Paso, materials are processed for shipment to factories in Mexico. His company depends on those shipments being tariff-free under NAFTA, so he rejects President Trump\u2019s claim that the trade deal is the worst ever made.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not the worst trade deal. It has done more for North America than could even have anticipated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Russell\u2019s business provides U.S. corporations with manufacturing facilities employing around 8,000 people in Mexico, where labor costs are lower. He fears that without NAFTA, his cost of doing business will rise.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe American consumer is going to pay the bill,\u201d according to Russell. \u201cThe product is just going to be more expensive. It doesn\u2019t mean anybody is going to move from Mexico to the US to produce the product.\u201d<\/p>\n

The US-Mexico border region is one of the largest in the world. Its population exceeds 2.5 million, with an economy to match. Mexico is Texas\u2019 largest export market, with cross-border trade worth hundreds of billions annually.<\/p>\n

More than 1\/5 of that trade crosses the border in El Paso.<\/p>\n

Thomas Fullerton, a professor at the University of Texas at El Paso, studies the region\u2019s economy and the potential impact should NAFTA talks fail.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will throw a monkey wrench into how things operate rather seamlessly at this point,\u201d he explained. \u201cExisting operations will probably remain in place, but the level of investment and business formation will plummet.\u201d<\/p>\n

But not everyone is so sure. Nicole Grado\u2019s company sells packaging. Up to 90 percent of her customers ship internationally. She\u2019s looking for ways to diversify her business and says she\u2019s confident other US companies could thrive without NAFTA.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere would be changes, but I think it\u2019s like everything: you adjust to those changes and you adapt,\u201d the CEO said. \u201cYou figure out ways to continue moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the outcome of the NAFTA talks remains far from certain, business on the border continues. El Paso\u2019s economy is projected to grow two percent in 2018.<\/p>\n

But most here hope a long-term deal can be reached soon, to avoid the lingering uncertainty hanging over this region\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

America CGTN \/ Steve Mort \/ June 18<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

America CGTN \/ Steve Mort \/ June 18   The U.S., Canada, and Mexico say talks on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) will press ahead despite Washington\u2019s steel and aluminum tariffs. But recent tensions between the U.S. and Canada are casting doubt on whether a deal is possible. At Allen Russell\u2019s warehouse in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":15787,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1516,1518,1017],"tags":[722,424,199,1341,1715,1566],"class_list":["post-15786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-international-markets","category-news","tag-canada","tag-economy","tag-mexico","tag-nafta","tag-tariff","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nrgibroker.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nrgibroker.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nrgibroker.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nrgibroker.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nrgibroker.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nrgibroker.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15786\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nrgibroker.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nrgibroker.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nrgibroker.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nrgibroker.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}