Global Trade Relationships Critical Driver of Growth

Today on the Senate floor, I discussed the importance of international trade to the U.S and Texas economies. Excerpts of my remarks are below, and video can be found here.

In my state, in Texas, there is no question: trade delivers in two ways. Number one, it helps Texas families stretch their paychecks by providing greater access to more affordable goods. That's a good thing. And two, it helps our farmers, our ranchers, our small businesses, and other manufacturers access more customers around the world.

Texas continues to lead the nation as the top exporting state, and it's done so for about a decade now. It's one reason why our economy has done better than the national economy in recent years, and it's estimated that Texas trade supports more than one million jobs currently. One million jobs.

But it's important to understand that our economic partnership with Mexico has been a key part of that success, and that's thanks in part to the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, the trade deal between the United States, Mexico, and Canada.

And because Texas has been leading the nation in terms of economic growth and job creation, I think it's fair to say that it's helped the nation as a whole not recede into a recession with the anemic growth rates that we've seen since 2008.

But here's the truth. The world looks a lot different today than it did 20 years ago when NAFTA was negotiated. And there's ample opportunity to work with our partners to craft a better deal for the United States. We can update it to be even more constructive and even a bigger driver of the United States economy.

Texas certainly proves that trade deals can help everyone from manufacturers to farmers to small businesses, all of whom find more markets for the goods they make or grow. That, in turn, creates more jobs and provides greater access to more goods for consumers. And it's a good example for the broader U.S. economy as well.