U. S. mexico canada trade agreement. Hosted by the Wilson Center, this is just under a half an hour. Good morning. So welcome to the Wilson Center. Were going to get started today. Im chris wilson. Im the Deputy Director of the Mexico Institute here and i lead our work on the u. S. mexico border among some other things. Were very pleased to be partnering with the Border Trade Alliance once again, our sixth annual u. S. mexico border conference. I say too often the mexico border, when viewed on the National News media is understood as a potential risk. Potential Entrance Point for a terrorist attack, thank goodness something thats never occurred, its a risk for drug trafficking, a risk for unauthorized immigration and it is, in a sense all of those things. It does represent some risks. The u. S. mexico border is an integral part of our Homeland Defense system along with intelligence work and International Partnerships and good policing across the country and plenty of other pieces of that system but the border is so much more than that. The border represents an opportunity. All rig already the border states represent the fourth largest economy in the world. We have a half trillion dollars in trade that crosses the border each year. We have the mix of competitive advantages of the United States and mexico that make it an attractive place for investment and production with the American Manufacturing platform. The border region has traditionally been seen as the periphery, the edge of the United States, the edge in many ways sort of a wild frontier. But i think its becoming, and in many ways has for a long time already become the heart and the center of the north american regional economy and thats what were trying to highlight by having an event like this and doing it every year. Were trying to make sure that the national conversation, the conversation here in washington about the border, has people like so many of you that are from the border region who see it up close and personal and know that theres so much opportunity in the border and yes some risks but that we can manage those things with smart policy ideas to enhance security and enhance competitiveness at the same time. And so i want to thank the Border Trade Alliance, Britton Clark and all of the Board Members for partnering with us. Id like to thank our sponsors for helping make this event possible. Id like to recognize any of our special guests in the audience. I know pthat ambassador barsenof from the Mexican Embassy is coming upstairs as we speak actually and i of course want to say were honored to be joined today by senator cornyn of texas. Hes been a long friend of this conference, participated in it before, of the Border Trade Alliance, and of the Wilson Center. He was here just a couple months ago to talk about u. S. mexico security cooperation, what was a fascinating conversation with our director jane harmon. Shes in boston today and sends her regards. Shes still working to get you that credential as an official part of the Wilson Center team. Were delighted to have someone like you here thats truly demonstrated leadership on u. S. mexico relations on building a competitive border, on all these things that were here to talk about and focus on today. We couldnt be more honored to have you wick off our conference this morning. Thanks very much, senator. Well, good morning, everyone, its good to be back at the Wilson Center. As chris said i was here not that long ago talking with jane harmon about security challenges and it seems like when we talk about the border that seems to dominate our conversations. But im here to talk about not just that, but as paul harvey, the famous radio personality used to say, the rest of the story. And we know the Security Issues certainly steal the headlines. But as a texan, this is personal because of course our relationship with mexico, as i like to say, its were like an old married couple. We cant get divorced. Weve got to make it work and we do that every day to our Mutual Benefit so ive long believed in the strong the importance of the strong trading relationship with our southern border because i know of its positive impact on our state but also on the nation. Nafta is and our trading relationship in north america with canada and mexico is credited with supporting about 5 million american jobs, just the binational trade with mexico, about another 8 million binational trade with canada. Its obviously very, very important and our total goods and Services Trade totaled more than 670 billion last year alone and most of it is because of our proximity to mexico between the state of texas and mexico which is and mexicos far and away texass top trading partner. In 2018, for example, texas exported 110 billion in goods to mexico and imported more than 107 billion from that country. Now, that trade feeds our local communities and our certainly state and national economy. Its critical to the supply chain for the Manufacturing Industry that depends on that binational trade and i think we ought to be looking for ways to do more business, not less business with mexico. So i appreciate the chance to talk to you about a few of those things today. I want to thank my friends at the Border Trade Alliance and of course here at the Wilson Center for hosting us and i had a chance to visit with some of you yesterday so its good to see you again. Well, right now the thing that is dominating the headlines is the humanitarian crisis thats occurring at the border. That was first that phrase was first coined in 2014 by president barack obama who called the surge of migration coming across the border a humanitarian and security crisis and its gotten worse, unfortunately, due to a confluence of circumstances, as you know. Last month 144,000 people were detained at the southern border. But whats so different is people are simply turning themselves in because trafrankl the coyotes have figured out american law and realize if you bring unaccompanied children or send unaccompanied children or bring families that they will successfully navigate our immigration laws and end up being able to stay in the United States because theyve simply overwhelmed our capacity to deal with the issue. So i wouldnt be surprised, actually, until some of the more recent developments weve seen for that number to get even bigger. It was the third month in a row that the number of individuals who came across the border were six figures and its a trend we havent experienced since 2006 when the yearly total topped more than a million. As you know theres essentially no net migration from mexico. Its primarily a Central American phenomenon although the rio grand valley detained people from more than 140 countries. This is wellknown to the smuggling organizations and who care nothing about the people. They view them merely as a commodity and of course many of these criminal organizations are commodity agnostic. Theyre in it for the money and nothing else. Well, congress and the administration have grappled with a way to manage this massive influx of migrants and its caused some consternation as you know about legal trade and travel and created a lot of challenges. For one thing because the numbers have simply overwhelmed our capacity the ports of entry are now primarily ways that children and family units are cared for as they are processed through our system and of course customs and Border Protection officials are being deployed to hand out juice boxes and diapers as opposed to moving commerce across the border. I understand things have gotten a little bit better since weve surged additional customs and Border Protection officials to those ports but what that means is were taking them from other places around the country and were hearing from our friends from the Northern Borders and airports and other places around the country theyre experiencing delays and problems as a result of this reallocation of resources. I remember there was one time when i had this conversation with President Trump who said were going to shut down the border and i called the president and i said, mr. President , thats going to have a lot of unintended consequences and please let us come back to you with some more targeted ways to try to get peoples attention. Of course the most important thing that could be done is congress could actually do its job and act. And indeed i reached out to my friend and frequent partner on trade and border issues, henry quaar. Hes a reasonable, rational, good, patriotic american and a great tex an. Loopholes that are being exploited now by the human smugglers to move people into the United States. The other alternative is what the president resorted to when congress wouldnt act, he threatened additional tariffs on mexico. And i am happy that the relationship with mexico and the United States is such that they were able to negotiate a result, which is involves mexico signing more of its National Guard along the southern mexican border. Traditionally this has been viewed as an american problem and mexico hasnt viewed this as their problem, much as they have the drug issue where theyve viewed this as being an american problem. If there wasnt the demand then people wouldnt be selling drugs which seems like an obvious point but its an important one nonetheless. Now i think mexico views this as a shared problem and challenge, something we need to work on together and i hope its with that attitude in mind we will continue to do so. But the most important legislative thing we can do beyond dealing with this broken asylum system that henry and i are trying to work on is make sure that the usmca is confirmed. Obviously mexico has taken the first step, which is very encouraging, and i know all of you have followed this very, very closely. Theres no question in my mind that nafta has been annet net benefit to the United States and particularly texas. Those are controversial words in some circles but i believe its true and i believe you can demonstrate it in dollars and cents. When i first learned the administration was eyeing nafta to look at changes, i encouraged them to fix it, not nix it. There was talk about terminating it and questions among lawyers as to whether the president had the authority to do that. I was under the opinion that he im glad we didnt have to confront that issue. I think that would contribute more chaos and more uncertainty where we need to have less chaos and a little more certainty. But obviously nafta could stand a little update and the truth is that the Energy Sector and particularly the Digital Economy were things that really werent as influential in our shared economy back when nafta was first passed as they are today so after a long year of negotiation by our governments i was glad that this rebranded agreement was signed by the head of all three countries in november. A couple of months ago the International Trade commission publicly released its analysis of the Economic Impact of the agreement and showed its positive impacts. The itc concluded that within six years of going into effect the usmca will raise u. S. Gross domestic product by 68 billion. We can also expect that more than 33 billion increase in our exports and about 31 billion in increased imports. Thats great news for american workers, farmers, ranchers and businesses that will reap the benefits of this agreement and im eager to get moving on the next step in the process, which is congressional consideration. We recently the congress recently received a statement of administrative action from the trump administration, that was three weeks ago, which in government speak is the implementing of legislation should be coming soon. Were anxiously awaiting the next step, enabling legislation to come over to us. As you know once it does come to congress under trade Promotion Authority congress cant maemd it so theres not the usual legislative process where people are going to be offering amendments and voting those up or down. Its an up or down vote on the entire agreement and so its really important that any negotiations, in terms of side agreements and other understandings, take place before the enabling legislation comes. And of course im i am encouraged by speaker pelosis being receptive to passing the usmca. I know she wants to make sure the house does its Due Diligence. Its my understanding shes appointed a team of legislators who is going to primarily speak for the house in terms of those negotiations but im anxious for that to take place soon. The house will vote first and then given the revenue implications and it will come to the senate and well consider it in the Senate Finance committee on which i sit and then the full senate will vote. In terms of when you can expect this to happen, thats in the hands of the administration. We can get the implementing bill as early as july the 30th which would start a 90day shot clock, or it could come thereafter. My personal preference, and i would encourage you to encourage the administration and the house to not let this linger any longer than necessary. The farther this gets into the reelection cycle and the more this becomes politicized by the taillig president ial campaign and other campaigns that would be to the detriment of considering the usmca in getting it passed. On Tuesday Morning ambassador lighthizer testified in front of the finance committee, i asked him the question when does the Administration Plan to submit the implementing bill to congress . He was studiously vague. He noted his interest in sending the implementing bill and noted t negotiations with House Democrats to advance. He didnt give me a time and i dont blame him but i wanted to ask the question anyway to encourage him and encourage people watching this to get the job done. Historically speaking the closer we get to the election the more challenging it is to get anything passed and particularly in a divided congress. I hope we can get this moving along soon. Now, one of the most thats probably one of the most anticipated changes in the trade world but we are actually working on infrastructure and staffing at our ports of entry, both on the southern border and elsewhere. Texas is home to 29 air, land and sea ports of entry, more than any other state, and we rely upon the dedicated men and women who serve to both protect us from dangerous and illicit goods and facilitate legitimate trade and travel. And in recent jobs as i suggested earlier that job has gotten nothing but more difficult because of the skyrocketing numbers of people crossing the border, as i mentioned customs and Border Protection officials had to reassign duties, some of the busiest texas ports like those in el paso and laredo, theyve born the brunt of these reassignments with fewer customs officers on the job we began to see lengthy delays at our ports and check points along the entire southern border and juarez, across from el paso, as you know, truckers reported sleeping in their vehicles overnight so they wouldnt lose their place in line. And i was told by one of the Car Manufacturers that they literally had taken to chartering airplanes to fly from juarez to el paso. I think they said its about an 11 minute flight in order to by pass the congestion at the ports of entry. The impact of those delays, of course, reaches far beyond my state and could be felt by the national economies, particularly in manufacturing and agriculture. But an estimated shortage of almost 4,000 cbp officers nationwide, and many being reassigned to deal with the Current Crisis the impact of the ports will get worse, especially during the busy summer months. To help address on an interim basis the staffing issues, i introduced legislation called securing american ports of entry act of 2019. That bill would require an additional 600 cbp officers until the Agency Staffing needs are met. It also authorizes the hiring of Mission Support staff and technicians to perform nonLaw Enforcement functions, allowing officers to focus their efforts on Law Enforcement priorities. It also would require reporting on Infrastructure Improvements that would enhance our screening capabilities. And i believe its an entirely feasible goal to meet and would be would ensure cbp has the staffing and the resources and infrastructure needed to keep our ports safe and running efficiently. This bill was passed unanimously yesterday by the Homeland Security committee in the senate and i hope we can bring it up for full conversation by the senate soon. Both the usmca and more effective and efficient ports are critical to maintai