‘Fiscal cliff’ concerns entire Nafta region: manufacturers

Sep 11, 2012 | 11:31 AM | Chris Prentice

Tags  Metals Service Center Institute, economic forecast, Nafta, North American Free Trade Agreement, Jayson Myers, Ned Monroe, Esther Rodriguez Silva, Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters National Association of Manufacturers

SCHAUMBURG, Ill. — American lawmakers’ failure to create policies ensuring economic growth will prove challenging not just to U.S. companies, but to all of the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) region, according to a group of manufacturing experts.

"There’s a lot of concern, clearly," Jayson Myers, president and chief executive officer of the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters trade group, said during a panel discussion at the Metals Service Center Institute’s economic forecast conference in Schaumburg, Ill. "The U.S. accounts for three-quarters of our exports. Over half of everything manufactured in Canada is sold into or through the United States. On top of all that, there’s the impact on the currency."....