Ahead of tomorrow's hearing on the "Modernization of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)" by the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade, Sage Chandler, the Consumer Technology Association’s (CTA) vice president of international trade, issued the following statement:

“As the administration celebrates ‘Made in America’ week, we applaud Sens. John Thune (R-SD) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) for emphasizing the need for digital trade reforms to President Trump and Ambassador Robert Lighthizer. We hope the administration will maintain the beneficial parts of NAFTA, which has played a significant role in liberalizing trade and giving U.S. manufacturers the chance to grow their market presence in Canada and Mexico. Still, we appreciate that the current Administration is deciding to modernize this 23-year-old trade agreement.

“In addition to a digital trade framework that protects the free flow of information through cross-border data flows, prohibits customs duties, taxes, and other barriers to digital products and ensures non-discriminatory treatment of digital products transmitted electronically, we need to pay attention to the regulatory misalignment with our NAFTA partners. American companies have to comply with Canada’s and Mexico’s conflicting energy efficiency standards, local testing and local certification requirements, costing American companies time and money. Modernizing NAFTA to resolve this regulatory maze would facilitate trade, meet policy goals and support business growth.”

According to CTA’s U.S. Economic Contribution of the Consumer Technology Sector report, international trade generated direct, indirect and induced activity of $524 billion in total output, $271 billion in value added, $166 billion in labor income, $66 billion in tax payments and 2.8 million jobs in 2015.