Oregon labor, ag, tech & industry praise new NAFTA

The day after Ron worked to get an updated NAFTA approved 89-10 in the Senate, he heard in Portland from Oregonians in labor, agriculture, technology and industry about the updated agreement’s huge potential to create jobs and build on Oregon’s economic strengths.

 Joining Ron at a news conference to praise the new pact with Canada and Mexico -- and its overwhelming bipartisan Senate approval -- were officials from the Oregon AFL-CIO, Tillamook County Creamery Association, Oregon Association of Nurseries, Red Duck Foods, AutoDesk and AllGo.

“Trade is responsible for about one out of every four jobs in the state of Oregon and those trade jobs often pay better than the non-trade jobs,” he said. “This new agreement is about bringing trade policy into the 21st century.”

Ron outlined two areas he focused on with the new NAFTA – tough enforcement of the laws to protect U.S. workers and protecting the digital economy that’s changed tremendously since the first NAFTA went into effect in 1994.

As the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, he also spoke about the failures of the Trump administration’s initial NAFTA rewrite to protect U.S. workers and level the playing field for U.S. employers. 

“Working with labor and business, we were instead able to lock in real and enforceable changes to our trading system,” he said. “This agreement is a new and very improved set of opportunities for workers, businesses and entrepreneurs.”