Bill Text: CA SJR12 | 2019-2020 | Regular Session | Introduced

California Senate Joint Resolution 12 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2019-09-09 - Referred to Com. on J., E.D., & E. [SJR12 Detail]

Download: California-2019-SJR12-Introduced.html

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2019–2020 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Joint Resolution

No. 12

Introduced by Senator Grove

August 14, 2019

Relative to the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SJR 12, as introduced, Grove. The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

This measure would recognize the benefits of improving existing trade relations between the United States, Mexico, and Canada, and would urge Congress to approve the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

Fiscal Committee: NO

WHEREAS, The imposition of artificial barriers to free and open trade are harmful to American economic interests; and

WHEREAS, Together, the United States, Canada, and Mexico promote a shared belief in freedom, representative democracy, and market principles as recognized in the United States Constitution; and

WHEREAS, A longstanding, close trilateral relationship, codified in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), has existed between the United States, Canada, and Mexico for more than 25 years and has proven economically, culturally, and strategically important for all parties and this relationship will continue with ratification of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA); and

WHEREAS, Trade with Canada and Mexico supports nearly 12 million American jobs, and nearly 5 million of those jobs are supported by increased trade generated by NAFTA and these benefits will continue with ratification of the USMCA; and

WHEREAS, Since NAFTA entered into force in 1994, trade with Canada and Mexico has nearly quadrupled to $1.3 trillion, and the two countries buy more than one-third of American merchandise exports; and

WHEREAS, For 43 states in the United States, Canada, and Mexico represent their first or second largest export market and all but one state counts Canada or Mexico as a top-three trading partner; and

WHEREAS, In 2018, Mexico was the largest trading partner for California, with 17 percent of the state’s exports of goods going to Mexico; and

WHEREAS, NAFTA has contributed to a 405-percent increase in American agricultural exports to Canada and Mexico; and

WHEREAS, The modernized USMCA may prove even more beneficial to the agricultural sector than was NAFTA and will offer a higher degree of certainty and stability to farmers; and

WHEREAS, American service exports to Canada and Mexico have tripled, rising from $27.5 billion in 1993 to $91.3 billion in 2017, thanks to new market access and clearer rules afforded by NAFTA, which will be continued under the USMCA; and

WHEREAS, Canada and Mexico are the top two export destinations for American small and medium-sized enterprises, more than 125,000 of which sold their goods and services in Canada and Mexico in 2014; and

WHEREAS, Trade among our North American trading partners is made up predominantly of intellectual property (IP)-intensive goods and services that employ millions of Americans in high paying jobs and generate billions of dollars in economic output; and

WHEREAS, Many of the IP-intensive goods, services, and exchanges through which trade is facilitated in the NAFTA bloc did not exist when the agreement was drafted, and this situation has resulted in uneven and weak IP enforcement; and

WHEREAS, Stringent enforcement of IP rights has been found to correlate closely with greater household income, foreign direct investment, and gross domestic product; and

WHEREAS, The IP provisions found in the USMCA are the most comprehensive of any multilateral United States trade agreement and are vastly superior to those included in NAFTA; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate and the Assembly of the State of California, jointly, That the Legislature supports the newly negotiated USMCA; and be it further

Resolved, That the Legislature urges Congress to approve the USMCA in order to ensure continuity in trade among the three North American economic partners; and be it further

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the President of the United States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the Majority Leader of the Senate, and to each Senator and Representative from California in the Congress of the United States.