Udall hopes for boost on border
Successful NAFTA talks would give NM increased development
U.S. Sen. Tom Udall told business leaders gathered in Albuquerque on Thursday that resolving negotiations over the future of the North American Free Trade Agreement would boost economic development along New Mexico’s border with Mexico.
In a speech at a Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce luncheon, Udall said he’s heard from civic leaders working in the Santa Teresa area that companies are ready to make investments but are waiting to see if there will be a resolution to President Trump’s efforts to overhaul NAFTA.
Udall said Thursday that New Mexico benefits from the reduced barriers to free trade and that Mexico is the state’s largest trading partner.
“NAFTA needs updating,” he said, “but tearing it up is not the answer.”
Trade tensions with Mexico and Canada increased Thursday as the Trump administration said it was moving forward with tariffs on steel and aluminum from those two countries and members of the European Union.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the tariffs “totally unacceptable” and said Canada would impose retaliatory tariffs on a wide variety of goods, according to the Associated Press. Mexico said it would impose tariffs on pork bellies, apples, grapes, cheeses and flat steel coming from the U.S.
Trump is seeking significant changes to NAFTA as part of a broader effort to reduce trade deficits and return jobs to the United States.
Udall’s speech came at the Sheraton Albuquerque Airport Hotel. He touched on a variety of topics, including federal appropriations for New Mexico projects and some bright spots in the state’s economy.
The senior senator — a Democrat from Santa Fe — said his role as a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee helped produce some good news for New Mexico through a bipartisan budget bill.
The two-year budget agreement, he said, includes hundreds of millions of dollars in investments in space and energy research at Kirtland Air Force Base and Los Alamos and Sandia National