Speakers

• Benjamin Sasse, U.S. Senator (R-NE), Chairman, Subcommittee on National Security and International Trade and Finance
• Introduced by Eric Farnsworth

"Right now, Americans think that what's happening with more trade is that consumers are winning but producers are losing...That is not what trade is doing. That is partially what automation is doing," said Ben Sasse. At the 48th Washington Conference on the Americas. Talking on the topic as an historian as well as a politician, he defended free trade agreements such as NAFTA, Sasse talked about the realities of China's dominance in world trade in future years, and demonstrated that anxieties on how technology will be changing the future of work are important to ackowledge.

• Learn more about and get additional materials from the 48th Washington Conference on the Americas.

Speakers:

• Paola Avila, Chair, Border Trade Alliance, Vice President, San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce
• Karan Bhatia, Vice President, Government Affairs & Policy, General Electric
• James Blanchard, Former U.S. Ambassador to Canada; Partner, DLA Piper
• Laura Dawson, Director, Canada Institute, Wilson Center
• Drew Dilkens, Mayor of Windsor
• Eric Farnsworth, Vice President, Americas Society/Council of the Americas
• Kevin Faulconer, Mayor of San Diego
• Juan Manuel Gastélum, Mayor of Tijuana
• Don Iveson, Mayor of Edmonton
• Michael Kergin, Former Canadian Ambassador to the U.S.; Senior Advisor, Bennett Jones LLP
• Arturo Sarukhan, Former Mexican Ambassador to the U.S.
• Earl Anthony Wayne, Former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico; Public Policy Fellow, Mexico Institute, Wilson Center
• Christopher Wilson, Deputy Director, Mexico Institute, Wilson Center

Divided in three panels, the event hosted by the Wilson Center and Council of the Americas in Washington, DC addressed what withdrawal from the pact would mean for job growth, competitiveness, and North America's geopolitics. City mayors, former ambassadors and business leaders from the three NAFTA countries discussed the pending issues for the current talks and what's at stake for the region's economy should NAFTA negotiations fail.

• Follow NAFTA negotiation developments in our North America Hub.
• Read selected quotes from this event.