Trump NAFTA trade deal raises fears among small-business manufacturers

Yuri Gripas | Reuters

(L-R) Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, U.S. Trade Rep Robert Lighthizer and Mexican Secretary of Economy Ildefonso Guajardo Villarreal make statements to the media after a NAFTA trilateral ministerial press event in Washington, October 17, 2017.

Edina, Minnesota-based PGC is 67 years old and exports around the globe. Exports to Mexico and Canada represent just under 10 percent of its business, with 1,600 parts sent out for 55 different companies.

“My biggest concern is that I don’t know how this will impact me as a small manufacturer and how this is going to affect our end customer,” said Cary-Hanson. “But I do know that shipping to Mexico or Canada, our customers are not going to take a price increase.”

Talks to renegotiate the trade deal are wrapping up their fifth round Tuesday, with leaders from the United States, Mexico and Canada continuing to discuss potential changes to the decades-old agreement. A March 2018 deadline is fast approaching. President Donald Trump has called NAFTA the “worst trade deal” ever signed in the past and, as commander-in-chief, has vowed to renegotiate it.

For small importers and exporters the potential changes bring uncertainty.

Optima Products in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, manufactures and distributes specialty health-care seating products. It owns a manufacturing facility in Jefferson, Wisconsin, and also has a partnership with a company in Quebec City, Canada, that accounts for 70 percent of its business. The products Smith imports are distributed across the United States.

“Worst-case scenario, we might lose the privileged status of NAFTA products going back and forth across the border,” said Optima president and owner Marvin Smith. “It could add some costs both ways, it could interrupt our distribution network and also cause some concerns across our dealers and distributors across the country.”