Nearly 40 senators last week urged President Donald Trump to preserve the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), stressing its benefits to the U.S. economy and the even greater economic success a modernized agreement would bring. They emphasized the gains made under the agreement, especially in manufacturing and agriculture, noting that U.S. agricultural exports to Canada and Mexico have quadrupled under NAFTA and reached $38.1 billion in 2016.

“The next step to advance the economy requires that we keep NAFTA in place, but modernize it to better reflect our 21^st century economy,” the senators said in the letter to Trump. “Whether manufacturers, farmers or insurance providers, a wide range of industries in the U.S. have benefitted from this agreement, and American consumers are reaping those benefits, too.”

They called for improving market access to make the agreement even more beneficial to the United States.

Read the letter here.

For more information, contact Beth Hughes, IDFA director of international affairs, at bhughes@idfa.org.