DALLAS (KRLD) - All U.S. representatives from Texas voted in favor the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement Thursday. The measure passed the House 385-41, with all Republicans and Democrats from Texas supporting the bill.
Representative Will Hurd, a Republican whose district includes areas along the border between San Antonio and El Paso, says NAFTA currently supports 14 million jobs across the country and more than one million jobs in Texas.
"We should care about the USMCA because just about every aspect of our lives, the food on our table, the clothes on our back, the fuel in our cars, depends on free trade with Mexico and Canada," Hurd said on the floor of the U.S. House.
Mexico is Texas' largest trading partner. The U.S. Census says trade between Texas and Mexico totaled $180 billion through the first ten months of 2019.
Hurd says free trade with Mexico and Canada supports more than half the jobs in his district.
"We live in a world where U.S. military and economic dominance is no longer guaranteed, and a strong North America is essential for us to remain competitive as China tries to replace America as the most important economy in the world," he says.
Hurd says he will not run for a fourth term in 2020.
“A big win for Texas—more commerce, more North American Development Bank financing, reasonable protection for the environment and workers—all of which helps to broaden public support for future trade agreements," Democratic Congressman Lloyd Doggett wrote in a statement.
Doggett says "harmful language" that would have allowed price gouging on prescription drugs was removed.
The International Trade Commission says USMCA would create 176,000 jobs in the United States and lead to $68 billion in new economic activity.
The U.S. Senate is likely to take up the USMCA in January.