Los Angeles World Affairs Council and Town Hall USMCA Event

Last Wednesday, some of my classmates and I got the chance to see Zaib Shaikh, Consul General of Canada, and Carlos Gimenez, Consul General for Economic Affairs of Mexico, speak at the LA World Affairs Council & Town Hall Young Professionals event. The panel was moderated by Stephen Cheung, president of the World Trade Center Los Angeles. They spoke about the recently signed the USMCA, or, as Zaib Shaikh referred to it, NAFTA 2.0. The USMCA stands for the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, and it outlines standards and regulations for trade within Northern America. Although I didn’t know much about trade agreements at all before attending this panel, the panelists explained why and how an agreement like USMCA is necessary and productive in today’s modern society. Obviously, trade generally benefits the economies of the countries involved; however, there was also a lot of talk about how USMCA was designed to push an agenda of social justice. The panelists mentioned that an agreement like USMCA, in addition to improving the economies of North American countries, has the power to improve conditions for underrepresented populations in all three countries. Shaikh mentioned that the USMCA sets important standards throughout the three countries regarding gender equality, workers, rights, indienous peoples rights. The countries hold each other to higher ethical/moral standards while also seeking to improve their national economies. The Panelists also talked a lot about how much Los Angeles has to do with the USMCA. Stephen Cheung talked a lot about Los Angeles: Los Angeles has the 15th largest economy in the world, Los Angeles has the second busiest airport in the nation, Los Angeles is home to two major cargo ports. All of these facts brought the big picture of the USMCA home for me, and they reminded me how much my home of Los Angeles has to do with global relations and affairs.