00 SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 8 01 Supporting the ratification of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade; 02 encouraging the federal Administration to remove the steel and aluminum tariffs on 03 imports from Canada and Mexico; and urging the United States Congress and the 04 federal Administration to call on Canada and Mexico to remove retaliatory tariffs on all 05 goods and services exported from the United States. 06 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 07 WHEREAS the United States and Canada have one of the most substantial trading 08 relationships in the world; and 09 WHEREAS Canada is the United States' largest export market, valued at 10 $320,000,000,000 in goods and services, and the United States is Canada's largest export 11 market, valued at $308,000,000,000 in goods and services; and 12 WHEREAS Canada has agreed to grade imports of wheat from the United States in a 13 manner not less favorable than the manner in which Canada evaluates Canadian wheat and 14 has agreed not to require a statement of the country of origin on its quality grade or inspection 15 certificate; and 01 WHEREAS free, fair, open, and mutually beneficial trade between the United States 02 and Canada strengthens the economies of both countries; and 03 WHEREAS, in 2017, trade between the United States and Canada totaled over 04 $1,860,000,000 in goods and services every day and supported 9,000,000 jobs in the United 05 States and 2,100,000 jobs in Canada; and 06 WHEREAS Canada was the state's third largest trading partner in 2017, with the 07 state's exports to Canada totaling $707,000,000 in 2017, which represented more than 4,500 08 jobs in the state; and 09 WHEREAS Canada and Mexico are the first and third largest export markets for 10 agricultural products from the United States, with $20,600,000,000 in exports to Canada and 11 $18,600,000,000 in exports to Mexico; and 12 WHEREAS, since the North American Free Trade Agreement was signed in 1992, 13 agricultural exports from the United States have increased from $8,700,000,000 in 1992 to 14 $39,000,000,000 in 2017; and 15 WHEREAS, during the more than 20 years since the United States, Mexico, and 16 Canada entered into the North American Free Trade Agreement, trade in North America has 17 tripled from $340,000,000,000 in 1993 to $1.1 trillion in 2017; and 18 WHEREAS the integration of trade in North America under the North American Free 19 Trade Agreement has helped to make North America more competitive in the world's 20 economy by providing highly integrated and valuable supply chains, common rules, and 21 harmonized regulations that increase the speed of transactions with and global 22 competitiveness of businesses in North America, drive investment, increase the economic 23 success of each member of the North American Free Trade Agreement, and provide jobs in 24 the communities of North America that depend on efficient and effective supply chains; and 25 WHEREAS, on March 1, 2018, under 19 U.S.C. 1862 (Trade Expansion Act of 26 1962), the federal Administration announced that the United States was imposing a 25 percent 27 tariff on imports of steel and a 10 percent tariff on imports of aluminum, but Canada and 28 Mexico were initially granted waivers of the tariffs; and  29 WHEREAS the tariffs were later imposed on Canada and Mexico, and Canada and 30 Mexico have responded by imposing retaliatory tariffs; and  31 WHEREAS Canada and Mexico have committed their countries to lifting retaliatory 01 tariffs as soon as the federal Administration removes the United States' tariffs; and 02 WHEREAS the tariffs on steel and aluminum harm the industry and workers on both 03 sides of the Canada-United States border by disrupting linked supply chains that have made 04 North American steel and aluminum more competitive around the world; and 05 WHEREAS, by signing the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, Canada, 06 Mexico, and the United States have agreed to make targeted improvements to the North 07 American Free Trade Agreement that build on their enormously successful partnership and 08 shared competitiveness in the global marketplace; 09 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature supports the ratification of the 10 United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement and urges the United States Congress to ratify the 11 agreement as soon as possible; and be it 12 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature encourages the federal 13 Administration to remove steel and aluminum tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico; 14 and be it 15 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature requests that the United 16 States Congress and the federal Administration call on Canada and Mexico to remove 17 retaliatory tariffs on all goods and services exported from the United States.  18 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Donald J. Trump, President 19 of the United States; the Honorable Michael R. Pence, Vice President of the United States and 20 President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the U.S. House of 21 Representatives; and the Honorable Lisa Murkowski and the Honorable Dan Sullivan, U.S. 22 Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska 23 delegation in Congress.