NEMA Working with Canada & Mexico to Strengthen International Trade Agreement
The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA), La Cámara Nacional de Manufacturas Eléctricas (CANAME), and Electro-Federation Canada (EFC) – the trade associations representing North America’s electrical manufacturers in the U.S., Mexico and Canada respectively – came together on April 8 to call upon United States Trade Representative (USTR) Ambassador Jamieson Greer, Mexico Secretary of the Economy Marcelo Ebrard and Canada Minister Responsible for Canada-U.S. Trade Dominic LeBlanc to leverage opportunities to improve and strengthen the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) during its July 2026 review period – and unlock the trilateral pact’s potential.
In their joint letter, NEMA President and CEO Debra Phillips, CANAME President Aquiles Manuel López, and EFC President and CEO Carol McGlogan – whose industries represent the backbones of the U.S., Mexican and Canadian electric power systems – confirm that the USMCA “has strengthened regional supply chains” and created good-paying jobs in the U.S. and across the continent through a modern trade framework.
NEMA said in the press release that electrical equipment is essential to each new manufacturing facility, every megawatt of added grid capacity, and every data center and that according to its data, electrical components comprise approximately one-third of the total spend to build a typical AI data center, and 10% of the total spend to build a new U.S. manufacturing facility.
The letter’s authors credit the trilateral pact – in effect since July 2020 – with helping the continent’s electrical manufacturing industries “significantly reduce reliance on imports of electrical products from outside of North America.” By one measure, U.S. electrical manufacturers have reduced their collective dependence on materials from China by more than 49% since 2018, while investing more than $185 billion in domestic production capacity over the same period.
NEMA said in its press release that the USMCA is one of the world’s most significant trade agreements, covering nearly $2 trillion of trade in goods and services between countries representing roughly 30% of the global economy.
In their joint letter, NEMA, CANAME, and EFC – whose industries collectively employ more than 890,000 workers – acknowledge the successes of the USMCA and articulate some areas where the agreement can be strengthened. To deliver on the full promise of the next iteration of USMCA, NEMA, CANAME, and EFC urge negotiators to advance three key priorities during the upcoming review period:
- Strengthen technical standards harmonization by reinforcing the work of the Council for Harmonization of Electrotechnical Standardization of the Nations of the Americas (CANENA) and North American Standards Developing Organizations
- Improve Rules-of-Origin, consulting with industry on any changes to Rules-of-Origin
- Eliminate policy uncertainty and potential market fragmentation by preserving the trilateral structure of the USMCA
Click here to read the full, joint letter.