Support continued to grow this week for the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) – a trilateral trade agreement that will spur innovation here in the United States.

USMCA improves intellectual property protections on patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets in Canada and Mexico.  Protections encourage U.S. innovation and assure our American innovators’ ideas will not be stolen.

Increased innovation benefits American job creators, inventors, and workers by stimulating job growth and making our country more competitive on an international stage.

Check out what lawmakers and leaders from across the country are saying about how USMCA will help American innovators and our economy.

Rep. Adrian Smith (R-NE) wrote in the Norfolk Daily News:

“The renegotiation of NAFTA, and the subsequent United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) provides an opportunity to update and improve provisions relating to innovation and intellectual property. USMCA – which has been agreed upon by all three nations’ leaders – would strengthen protections for patents, trademarks, and copyrights.”

Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) wrote in the The Columbus Dispatch:

“This new agreement also includes important provisions to ensure American innovators are able to sell products to Canada and Mexico, while protecting them from intellectual property theft. With USMCA, America will retain its place as the global leader in the digital economy.”

Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-TX) wrote in the Abilene Reporter News:

“In rural and urban communities alike, free and fair trade has served as the foundation for economic prosperity throughout the Lone Star State. . . . Congress has an opportunity to deliver a major win for agriculture and energy producers in Texas and across America by passing the USMCA.” 

Rep. Ron Estes (R-KS) wrote in FOX Business:

“The modernized USMCA is light-years ahead of the outdated NAFTA and it will create jobs, boost wages, and open markets for American agriculture, manufacturing and technology. NAFTA is so outdated that it doesn’t even reference the internet. The USMCA is the framework for future digital trade agreements and will unleash unprecedented American innovation.”

Rep. Lloyd Smucker (R-PA) wrote in the Lancaster Online:

“Also, for the first time in a U.S. trade agreement, the USMCA would include rules to address all biotechnologies, including new technologies such as gene-editing, to support 21st century innovations in agriculture. These important and forward-thinking changes will prepare our farmers of today with the tools for tomorrow.”

Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta discussed with local Chambers of Commerce in Arkansas, about how USMCA will create more career opportunities throughout the country:

Jeff Joseph, president and CEO of the Software and Information Industry Association, wrote in the Washington Examiner:

“By establishing modern digital trade rules, USMCA will help American tech businesses drive economic growth and create jobs in the United States and our neighboring nations.”

Matt Blunt, president of the American Auto Policy and former governor of Missouri, wrote in The Detroit News:

“Not only will the USMCA help keep the American automotive industry as leading exporters, we believe the USMCA represents the necessary modernization of our North American trade rules. In addition, it will serve as a model for future agreements with our global trading partners.“

Raymond F. Kerins, Jr., chairman of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Innovation Policy Center and a senior vice president at Bayer, wrote in FOX Business:

“By patenting their drug designs, biopharmaceutical firms can prevent rivals from creating knockoff medicines for a limited time.  That enables innovative firms to earn a return on investment and plow the revenues into new lines of research, leading to yet more innovation.”

Jordan Haas, director of trade policy at the Internet Association, wrote:

“Congress can promote America’s global digital leadership by quickly approving this 21st-century agreement . . . This agreement presents a real, critical opportunity to build on America’s competitive advantage in the digital sector, to the benefit of the entire economy.”

CLICK HERE to learn more about USMCA and why we cannot afford the cost of delay.