By James Villeneuve

It’s easy to be lulled into thinking that the North American Free Trade Agreement primarily concerns industries such as auto manufacturing and steel, or bygone sectors that were once the pride of America’s factory towns. It can seem abstract and distant. Somebody else’s problem.

But a closer look at the industries in Nevada that would be hit by tariffs if NAFTA were ripped up reveals a wide range of local employers who export to Canada (and Mexico) today. Without NAFTA, these companies, many of which were started from scratch and have grown into scrappy international businesses, would face new costs in doing what they do best. As margins tighten, they could start to feel pressure on their payroll.

In other words, NAFTA is about jobs. Jobs found right here.  

The jobs of 82,000 Nevadans depend on trade and investment with Canada, both directly and indirectly. Tens of thousands more are the result of doing business with Mexico.

In and around Las Vegas and Reno, the makers of everything from slot machines to sporting goods, crackers to consumer electronics, plastics to pet food are enjoying the benefits of free trade. To take away NAFTA and put up tariffs is like slapping a tax on these entrepreneurs, manufacturers, wholesalers and small business people who sell their Nevada-made goods abroad.

These companies are not necessarily household names. But they’re not theoretical, either. They are active, open, identifiable businesses responsible for thousands of employees. Their founders’ vision, hard work and willingness to take risks are what have made them successful. Free trade has helped them grow.

Meanwhile, the forward-looking industries on which Nevada is recentering its economy could also be severely impacted if NAFTA is abandoned rather than renegotiated.

The state has made a bold commitment to emerging technologies and logistics – and without an updated agreement, companies involved in the manufacture of electric vehicles and their components, data storage and logistics will be hampered by unnecessary business costs that drag down their growth and the state’s success.

From the start, one of Canada’s main goals in the NAFTA renegotiations has been to modernize the agreement to reflect today’s tech-based economy and to create jobs and opportunities for middle-class people in all three countries.

Trade, by definition, is a mutual exchange of benefits.  What we have is a balanced, prosperous exchange. Though Canada does not see bilateral trade balances as a useful measure of the benefits of trade, we note that the United States enjoys a trade surplus with Canada of nearly $8 billion in goods and services. In manufactured goods it’s close to $36 billion. 

Nevada alone has a $500 million trade surplus in goods with Canada. Canada is the second-largest buyer of Nevada exports, behind only Switzerland (the main destination of Nevada’s mined gold). And Nevada’s 2nd Congressional District exports a greater value of goods to Canada than any other in the southwestern U.S.

Even that doesn’t tell the full story of our economic relationship.  We buy things from each other in order to make things together and sell them to the world. We collaborate on innovation and creation.

Simply put, our fortunes are bound up with each other. Consider just one more example: Canada is a major source of tourism to Nevada – 53 percent of all international flights here come from Canada (add in Mexico and that amount jumps to 69 percent). Canada’s tourists spend $1.4 billion a year here. Las Vegas is not immune to a blow to Canada’s economy.

This shows the trouble with bringing a winner-take-all mentality into a trade negotiation. In rounds three and four of the NAFTA renegotiations, we saw proposals that would turn back the clock on 23 years of predictability, openness and collaboration under NAFTA. Heading into the fifth round of negotiations later this month, negotiators must understand that if we don’t all win, we all lose.

Thankfully, a good deal is still achievable.  We have an opportunity to make improvements to NAFTA and make it work better for the people of our countries.  That remains Canada’s approach.

And for the good of Nevada and the business we do together, we hope that will be the approach of the president, the U.S. trade representative and Congress.

James Villeneuve is the Consul General of Canada. He is in Las Vegas on Thursday.