The regional head of the U.S. Small Business Administration says the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement (USMCA) brings some new opportunities to small businesses.
Jeremy Field says a vast majority of Northwest exports are made or grown by small firms and Canada and Mexico are their two largest markets. He says the trade pact will make it easier for firms to move their goods back and forth across borders.
“One of the neat things it does is it eliminates a requirement for cross-border service providers to have a physical location in the foreign country where they do business. That has been a big expense for a lot of small businesses and now they don’t have to worry about that," Field said.
And he says the agreement recognizes the interests of smaller firms.
“It creates a committee on small business so that government officials from every country will be advocates for the small business interests in their respective countries. Under NAFTA, there wasn’t this kind of a committee," he said.
Mexico has formally approved the agreement. The Canadian parliament hasn’t, but it has begun the process.