The Texas Independent Producers & Royalty Owners Association (TIPRO) released the following statement after members of the U.S. House of Representatives voted Thursday, December 19th to approve a revised United States, Mexico, and Canada Agreement (USMCA), which will replace the former North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The statement below can be attributed to Ed Longanecker, president of TIPRO.
“We are pleased to see congressional lawmakers, administration officials and trade negotiators finally come to a resolution on USMCA, and vote favorably to ratify this important international trade agreement. The new USMCA represents a win for Texas oil and gas producers and other business owners, and comes at an important time, as the United States leads the world in production of oil and natural gas.
Energy integration between Mexico, the United States and Canada has been a success story that has led to the creation of many new opportunities to improve trade relations across North America. Through responsible trade policies, we must continue to maintain and protect the ability to sell our natural gas, oil and other refined products tariff-free to Texas’ two largest international trading partners, Mexico and Canada.
Since officials began reviewing NAFTA under the Trump Administration, TIPRO has advocated for a fair trade deal, which is vital not only to the Texas oil and gas industry, but to our state and national economy across many different sectors. Throughout the negotiation process, TIPRO has closely monitored amongst other provisions the review of the special dispute-resolution process included as part of the original NAFTA agreement with the Mexican government, which provides some protection to multi-national companies that invest abroad. Another important element TIPRO fought to protect was the continuation of zero tariffs on oil and natural gas products.
With the USMCA, we look forward to continuing to expand trade of U.S. oil and gas to export markets in Mexico and Canada.”
