Colorado Politics

NAFTA withdrawal could cost Colorado $2 billion in exports, US Chamber claims

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce released a report Friday that looked at which states would be hardest hit if the United States withdraws from the three-nation North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

The Chamber has focused most on the hit to American agriculture, should President Trump follow through on his threat to renegotiate or even withdraw from the 23-year old agreement.

The dozen states that would fare the worst under that scenario are all states that voted for Trump in the 2016 election, the Chamber reported. Topping the list: Michigan, where 65 percent of its exports head to Mexico and Canada. The state risks almost 367,000 jobs, and an economic impact of $35 billion.

Colorado ranked far down the list in the Chamber’s analysis, but the risks are no less dire. According to the data, 42 percent of Colorado exports go to Mexico and Canada. Colorado’s top exports to Canada and Mexico are cattle and cattle products. The state takes in $2.4 billion from those exports, with 225,000 jobs at risk.

“While modernizing the 23-year-old NAFTA makes sense, withdrawing from the agreement would be a blow for the United States – one that would hit some states particularly hard. Ironically, those likely to suffer most would be Midwestern industrial states, heartland farm states, and border states like Texas and Arizona – nearly all of which voted to elect President Trump,” according to the Chamber.

Friday’s report comes on the heels of several other examinations of NAFTA’s impact on agriculture and produced by the U.S. Chamber that claim a U.S. withdrawal would be devastating to cattle, hog and wheat producers.

 

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