Young works to ensure USMCA best serves small businesses

U.S. Sen. Todd Young (R-IN) wants to ensure the implementation of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) best serves small businesses and entrepreneurs.

Sen. Young, a member of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, along with a bipartisan group of six Senate colleagues, wrote a letter on Feb. 6 to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer requesting additional information about the inclusion and implementation of a small business chapter in the USMCA.

The letter was also signed by U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) as well as U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), chairman of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, and Ranking Member Ben Cardin (D-MD).

The USMCA, which was signed last month, supports mutually beneficial trade between the North American countries, creating high-paying jobs and bolstering the North American economies. For the first time in any U.S. trade agreement, the USMCA includes an entire chapter on small and medium-sized businesses.

“Trade can be a powerful tool for the more than 30 million American small businesses to better compete globally by leveling the playing field and expanding export opportunities,” the letter stated.

Small businesses represent nearly 98 percent of all U.S. exporting firms, the senators wrote, with approximately 82,000 exporting to Canada and 53,000 exporting to Mexico. In the chapter, the USMCA details provisions and tools to help small businesses identify opportunities and increase competitiveness. It also establishes a committee on issues related to small and medium-sized enterprises (SME), comprised of bipartisan government representatives, to help identify and recommend ways to enhance cooperation and expand small business opportunities.

The senators noted that a major piece of the provisions included in the agreement is a new mechanism that will initiate an open dialogue between the Committee on SME Issues, relevant stakeholders, and small businesses, to ensure that such entities are benefitting from the USMCA.

While they commended the inclusion of the chapter and the acknowledgment of small business impact, the senators want specific information regarding the organization and timeline of the dialogue concerning how the provisions outlined in the USMCA will be implemented into business practice as well as how the Committee representatives will be selected to participate in the dialogue.

“We believe that this agreement better positions American small businesses to reap the benefits of international trade,” the senators wrote. “Moving forward, we are eager to engage in a dialogue with you regarding its implementation.”