Press Releases

Today, Congressman Jodey Arrington (TX-19) issued the following statement as the U.S. House of Representatives voted in favor of ratifying the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) to modernize free trade in North America: “I want to thank the ranking member, my dear friend Kevin Brady for his leadership on this very important trade deal that strengthens our largest and most important relationship of all of our trading relationships. I also want to thank our chairman, Richard Neal, for keeping this deal on track and keeping people in the game so we could have a bipartisan deal, as the only way that this was going to work if we had a bipartisan consensus,” said Arrington. “But let's give credit where credit is due for the one who led the charge, who did the heavy lifting – our President Donald J. Trump. In 2016, he was already calling out some of these trade deals as a rip off on American workers and manufacturers. While we saw a 400% increase in trade for agriculture products since the inception of NAFTA, it hasn't been good all the way around, it hasn't been fair all the way around, and it hasn't been productive in terms of keeping jobs here in the United States. I applaud our president for his dogged commitment to American first trade policies – that doesn’t mean America only, it means that we negotiate from strength and we negotiate for the best interest of American workers, manufacturers, and farmers.” “That's what the USMCA does – $70 billion in economic growth, 170,000 jobs and billions in investment in the auto manufacturing sector. Our agriculture producers, dairy producers, and farmers are going to have open access to new customers in Canada.” “This is a huge win for America, and I want to join all my colleagues, Republican and Democrat, and champion this deal all the way through. I applaud my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for voting yes on the USMCA and voting for an even greater America and an even greater prospect for American prosperity.” WATCH CONGRESSMAN ARRINGTON’S FULL REMARKS ON THE HOUSE FLOOR: