North American Electrical Industries Urge CUSMA Negotiators to Renew and Strengthen Continental Trade Framework
April 9, 2026
Electro-Federation Canada (EFC), National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA), and La Cámara Nacional de Manufacturas Eléctricas (CANAME) – the trade associations collectively representing North America’s electrical manufacturers – today came together to call upon Canada’s Minister Responsible for Canada-U.S. Trade Dominic LeBlanc, United States Trade Representative (USTR) Ambassador Jamieson Greer, and Mexico Secretary of the Economy Marcelo Ebrard to improve, strengthen, and ultimately renew the Canada-United States-Mexico (CUSMA) Agreement (also known as USMCA) ahead of the July 2026 review.
In their joint letter, EFC President and CEO Carol McGlogan, NEMA President and CEO Debra Phillips, and CANAME President Aquiles Manuel López – whose industries represent the backbones of the Canadian, U.S., and Mexican electric power systems – confirm that the CUSMA “has strengthened regional supply chains and created jobs across all three [North American] economies through a modern trade framework with clear rules of origin, dispute resolution mechanisms, and an agenda that facilitates trade.”
Roughly one-third of the components that go into an AI data center are made by electrical manufacturers, according to a NEMA analysis. Every new factory, every new data center, and every megawatt of added grid capacity requires a reliable and secure supply of electrical products – products that the CUSMA has made faster, cheaper, and more resilient to source from North American producers.
Further, the letter’s authors credit the trilateral pact – in effect since July 2020 – with helping the continent’s electrical manufacturing industries “significant reduce reliance on imports of electrical products from outside of North America.” By one measure, U.S. electrical manufacturers have reduced their collective dependence on materials from China by more than 49% since 2018, while investing more than $185 billion in domestic production capacity over the same period.
CUSMA is one of the world’s most significant trade agreements, covering nearly $2 trillion of trade in goods and services between countries who represent roughly 30 percent of the global economy. In July 2026, Canada, the United States, and Mexico are set to undertake a formal review of the agreement.
In their joint letter, EFC, NEMA, and CANAME – whose industries collectively directly employ more than 890,000 workers – reaffirm that the CUSMA “has been and should continue to be a cornerstone of regional competitiveness,” and “can be improved and strengthened through this review.” To that end, EFC, NEMA, and CANAME call on negotiators to use the 2026 review to advance three specific priorities:
- Strengthen technical standards harmonization by reinforcing the work of the Council for Harmonization of Electrotechnical Standardization of the Nations of the Americas (CANENA) and North American Standards Developing Organizations
- Improve Rules-of-Origin, consulting with industry on any changes to Rules-of-Origin
- Eliminate policy uncertainty and potential market fragmentation by preserving the trilateral structure of the USMCA
