Last fall at the education summit, the governors and i agreed to help look for ways to make sure that our kids are ready to learn. The very first day they walk into the classroom. I have made good on that commitment by reporting a record increase in funds, and extra half 1 billion for something near and dear to all of us. [applause] our approach protects the quality of care and peoples choices. It builds on what works today in the private sector to expand employerbased coverage to guarantee private insurance for every american. I might say, employerbased private insurance for every american was proposed 20 years ago by president Richard Nixon to the United States conference. It was a good idea then, and it is a better idea today. [applause] we cut taxes. He cut taxes for 95 of working families. We cut taxes for small businesses. We cut taxes for firsttime homebuyers. We cut taxes for parents trying to care for their children. We cut taxes for 8 million americans paying for college. Watch sunday, starting at new eastern, on American History tv on cspan3. Cspans washington journal, live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. Coming up sunday morning, how cuts in military funding affect readiness with the heritage foundation. And the future of daca. We will also look at how shortterm government funding bills can impact government agencies. John autolock will join us for that. Be sure to watch washington journal, at 7 00 eastern sunday morning. Join the discussion. Officials from canada, mexico, and the u. S. Are in canada for ongoing talks about the future of nafta. According to a report from reuters, u. S. Officials are considering some of canadas proposed changes to the treaty. We will hear more now about the nafta trade talks from todays washington journal. Here to talk a little further about some of the industries impacted by the nafta negotiations, we have Jennifer Thomas, the federal Affairs Vice President of the alliance of automobile manufacturers, and ian jeffries, the Vice President of government supervised president of Government Affairs at the association of american railroads. Think you both for joining us today. Started, remind us of what your organizations do and how they are funded . The association of american u. S. ,ads represents the canada, and mexicos freight railroads. We also represent the Rail Industry suppliers, and we are the lead policy standardsetting, research basically, all of the above when it comes to d. C. Policy for the Rail Industry and its suppliers. Jenniffer . Jenniffer we represent 12 automakers. Companies we represent represent about 70 of the new car and light truck market in the u. S. We are also a leading Advocacy Group for the Auto Industry in washington. Host ceos have come together on the issue of nafta. Tell us a little bit about what is behind that. What interest do you have in common as nafta is under renegotiation right now, under the tape talks trade talks . Jennifer for the Auto Industry, there is a great deal at stake, perhaps more than any other sector in this debate. Nafta has been critical to the success of the Auto Industry. We are in the middle of a manufacturing renaissance, since the Great Recession in 2008. Nafta has been critical to that resurgence. We are hopeful that we emerge with a successful outcome, a modernizedafta nafta that strikes the right balance and preserves the industrys competitiveness globally. Ian four freight railroads, we are the conduit to International Trade for the u. S. Economy. 41 of our traffic is directly related to International Trade. 36 of our industrys revenues, 50,000 jobs are directly related to imports and exports. We annually export approximately 330 million tons and import about 170 million tons of goods to and from our nafta trading partners, and the Auto Industry is an excellent example. Almost 75 of finished automobiles go on a train and are delivered to market. When it comes to International Trade and international movements, our industry is at the forefront. Host and we are joined by ianifer thomas and jeffries to talk about the latest round of nafta negotiations. Our viewers can call. 202 are a democrat, 7488000. If you are a republican, 202 7488001. If you are an independent or 02. Er, 202 7488920 article, to an reporters are talking about this thee and the importance of latest round of negotiations. It says in part, if negotiators cannot Reach Agreement on key provisions of the 23yearold trade pacts, it is in danger of outright termination. Nafta has dramatically increased trade between the three member nations from 290 billion in 1993 to 1. 1 trillion last year. Die, eager for a competitors will be ready to pick up the pieces and welcome even more north american manufacturers to relocate and lower their cost of doing business. Jennifer, talk more about this and what this could mean for the Auto Industry . Jennifer sure. As i mentioned, nafta has enabled the industry to remain competitive around the globe. Should nafta go away, it will really set is behind other countries. Us behind other countries. There are three Global Platforms if you are an auto manufacturer. North america, europe, and asia. Those three regions will pick up the pieces and takeaway production and market share from the u. S. We need to be mindful as we proceed in these negotiations that we ultimately do what is best for the economy and for the consumer and for the American Worker. Host and in the interview we did with will, he mentioned that the Auto Industry particularly is something that is coming up in the current round of negotiations. What do you expect to come from that . Jennifer our industry is very much in the crosshairs of this debate. The administration has put our target in pointing is aow the trade deficit part of our industry, and we are the result of it. The focuscerned that on the trade deficit is really not the measure to be guiding this debate. Calleds an issue Automotive Group of origin, which is very much front and center in this debate. It dictates the amount of content that has to be produced and sourced from north america in order to qualify for dutyfree treatment. Rule ofw, that existing origin in nafta is the highest of any trade agreement in the world. What the administration is proposing is to take that and make it even more stringent, and not only make it a requirement to have to sourced from the north american region, but have to source from the u. S. , which is very unprecedented. They willeful that moderate from that proposal, and we will end up with a rule of origin that continues to strike the right balance and does not harm the industry or the consumer, the American Worker. Host i want to look at what the president has said about this. According to reuters, the president said that nafta, terminating nafta would yield to a better deal. Trump onresident wednesday said terminating the north American Free trade agreement would result in the best deal to revamp the 24yearold trade pact with canada and mexico. It says lawmakers as well as agricultural groups have warned trump not to quit nafta, but he says that maybe the outcome. Do you think a better deal can be struck if the usa pulled out of nafta . I think our members feel pretty strongly that is not the direction to go. We take a pretty macro view when it comes to nafta right now. It is a most a quartercentury old, so updating absolutely. An option, is not not a viable option in our opinion. Our view is that first and foremost, do no harm to the core of nafta. Keep the agreements trilateral, and lets create some certainty when it comes to nafta. Ons economy thrives certainty, certainty on the tax code, in the regulatory space, and certainty in the trade space as well. That is what we need to keep the economy moving forward and i think it would be the wrong direction to pull out to try to get a better deal. Host we are joined by Jennifer Thomas, the Vice President of federal affairs for the alliance automobile manufacturers, and also ian jeffreys, senior Vice President of Governmental Affairs with the association of american railroads. We are talking about the nafta negotiations. Again, democrats can call 202 7488000, republicans, 202 7488001, and independents, 202 7488002. Eric is on our democratic line in atlanta. Good morning. Caller [inaudible] but theus tax breaks, only thing that trump did george bush at least gave everybody. Thatter on found out [inaudible] you will never be able to tell the effects of it. This is nothing but the stock market, which president obama put all this economy and place in order for the economy to be going like it is. Jobs, but nowmore let me get to nafta. Policy. A republican it started up under george bush and reagan. People say bill clinton signed it, but it was put in place by a republican majority. Host i want to give our guests a chance to response to that. Ian, can you talk about the history of nafta and how it came about . Ian sure. Aller mentioned, it was negotiated for quite some time and signed into agreement under president bill clinton. What we have seen in our industry specifically is that we have seen a dramatic export in Goods Movement out of the country as well as into the country, with nearly twice as much out of the country and cargo we are moving. In fact, the largest Product Movement trade wise for our exports to mexico. We see that nafta at large has benefited the u. S. Economy. Host i know that there is a view that even if we do not pull out of nafta that there are, there is room for improvement. Where do you think that improvement can come . Ian the caller made an excellent point, that nafta was negotiated a long time ago. Nafta is nearly a quartercentury old, so it is time to modernize nafta. We support the administrations goals in doing so. We believe that the economy and certainly the Auto Industry have transformed a great deal since nafta went into affect. The agreement can be updated to reflect the changes, so a lot can be done in regards to customs and trade facilitation, flex abilityo the of the digital economy. The internet was just Getting Started in 1994, so allowing for crossborder data flows, there is a lot that could be done with regulatory cooperation to make sure the region remains the leader in regulations, and enabling thee economy to continue to be , andtitive globally is key should be front and center in this debate. Host paul is on the line from new york, independent. Good morning. Caller hi, i am from upstate economy innd our upstate new york was devastated by nafta. We lost hundreds and hundreds of jobs, our factories move down south, wages have been flat ever sense. Ever since i understand why tariffs could not be negotiated so that you know, the average working people would not be thrown out of work, which is what nafta did. The price of cars has steadily went up since nafta was implanted just implemented, but wages have stayed flat. And one final note, why are there no guests that represent the people that lost their jobs to this horrible bill . That is my comment. Host jennifer, what you think . Ian in the jennifer in the Auto Industry, we support over 7 million jobs in this nation. Since nafta was enacted, we have 14 automakers in 14 states operating 44 is a live plants. Assembly plants. The industry has transformed, and a lot has been done in the area of automation. In regards to the industry, we believe we are winning under nafta. We have seen the industry producing one million more vehicles last year than in the year before nafta was enacted. 12. 2 million vehicles, which equates to 137 billion. To grow ournuing exports. We export twice as many vehicles as we did then the year before nafta was enacted. We believe the facts are on our side, that nafta has been good for the industry. But we are very much concerned about the American Auto worker, and they should be front and center in this debate. We will measure any sort of success in nafta as whether or not it is good for the American Auto worker. Talk aan, do you want to little bit about that . Are there perils from nafta as well as benefits . It. I think jennifer hit on you have a nearly quartercentury old agreement. Updating is absolutely appropriate, and everyone would that that there are things could be improved and could be changed, but again, keeping that core, fundamental in agreement fundamental agreement in place to us is essential. Host the chamber of commerce put out a list of states that would be hit hardest should the United States pull out of nafta. At the top of that list is michigan. It says it would put 366,000 jobs in that state that depend on trade with canada and mexico, according to the American Enterprise institute. 39 of michigans Gross Domestic Product depends on trade the highest in the nation. Other cities number two, wisconsin, three, north dakota, four, texas, and five, missouri. Talk about that regionally, ian. See some midwestern states, but also other places like texas that could be hit. Talk about how that will impact the United States . Ian texas specifically, the a colossalhere is amount of crossborder trade. Certain auto components, when it comes to railroads, we will move those components across the border six or seven times in development. It is critical to keep the flow of goods moving, and we have built up this supply chain over the past quarter century. Innovative, complex, International Supply chain, and not something you can tear up overnight without significant on surprises. Host a lot of the states, michigan, iowa, ohio, are important states politically as well. Ian jennifer absolutely, and President Trump one a lot of those rust belt states. You have seen recently a lot of governors of those states get engaged in this debate, and express their concerns to the administration because they see firsthand what the industry has done for the state of the economy. States economy they have transformed the economies across these states. U. S. Has made the attractive for several global companies, like toyota, bmw, mercedes. ,hey have all made u. S. Homes and bmw is a prime example. Their spartanburg plant is the largest manufacturing plant for them in the world, and it is an export hub for them. They have attracted a great deal of suppliers to south carolina. Have beenhese states transformed because of the industry and that is because of what nafta has created. Lou, republican line, baltimore. Caller good morning, thank you for taking my call. I will not be too long. In texas for 12 years, and i have been traveling around with the military and teaching. Companies may have profited with nafta, but i think overall, for americans, it has not been good because there have been a lot of people that i know, and people who know people that have lost jobs and been removed and so forth. I am very impressed that President Trump is surrounding himself generally with very smart people in the role different areas, and one of them is economics. I feel really strongly that he will do what is right, and nafta not necessary for our country to profit and prosper. I think we will do better without it. Host what is your reaction to that, jennifer . Jennifer i respectfully disagree. Nafta should not go away. It would have the opposite of the administrations goals. It would result in the industry and other industries becoming less competitive globally that will raise production costs, and that will have a Ripple Effect. That will result in sales declining, that will result in production decreasing and demands decreasing. That will result in businesses shuttering and jobs being lost. That is the worstcase scenario what we are trying to avoid in this debate. We strongly believe and remain hopeful that we can end up with a successful outcome in these negotiations, and that is our goal as an industry, and to modernize nafta and bring it into the 21st century so we can continue to remain competitive globally. Host we are talking with Jennifer Thomas of the alliance of automatic automobile manufacturers, and ian jeffer association of american railroads. I want to put forward this opinion piece in the washington times, saying that the president should ignore the polls from the chamber of commerce to not pull out of nafta. He says consider this one particularly agreed his aspect of nafta, investors dispute settlements regime. Empowers private attorneys as arbitrators to interpret United States laws and issue enforceable judgment in violation of the constitutions appointments clause. I. S. Ds enables Foreign Investors to challenge actions of the government of the United States before International Arbitration tribunals composed of three private sector lawyers. Operating out of our article three judicial system is this a problem to you . Is a keyreignty aspect, and a sticky one to work through. I certainly feel, and i know our industry feels there are paths forward to all of these Sticking Point that can work for everyone, work for all countries