Jim Baird: “I would like to thank my colleague from Kansas for allowing me to have the opportunity to speak on this important issue.…”

“I would like to thank my colleague from Kansas for allowing me to have the opportunity to speak on this important issue. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to lend my voice in support of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, better known as USMCA, which will expand markets for our farmers and manufacturers, while ensuring cheaper goods for Americans. In Indiana, our economy thrives because we are one of the larger manufacturing States in the country, and an agricultural center for the Nation. We make the steel that towers above the Nation's largest cities in skyscrapers. We build the cars that drive along the Nation's highways and byways, and we grow the crops that feed the Nation's citizens and livestock. We have built this economy, in part, through strong international relationships with countries as far away as Japan, and as close as Canada and Mexico. In fact, it is the partnerships with our closest neighbors to the north and south that are the strongest and most vital. In 2018, Canada was the Hoosier State's most significant international export market, purchasing 34 percent of all of the exports, for a total of $13 billion in products. The 72 Canadian companies which operate in Indiana employ over 15,600 citizens of our State. Mexico follows as our second biggest export market, purchasing 13.8 percent of our exports, injecting $5.5 billion into the Hoosier heartland.…”