American Council of Life Insurers Issues Statement of U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement

WASHINGTON, Oct. 3 -- The American Council of Life Insurers issued the following statement by President and CEO Susan Neely on the trade agreement between the U.S., Mexico and Canada:

"The American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI) commends the Trump Administration for negotiating a modernized trilateral trade agreement between the United States, Mexico and Canada, updating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). ACLI also applauds the efforts by Mexico and Canada to commit to a revised agreement that reflects current economic practices.

"The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) contains several positive elements for the life insurance industry. ACLI is particularly pleased with new language allowing for the free flow of data and prohibiting the forced data localization for financial services.

"ACLI is reviewing the agreement and analyzing other new commitments in the text. The business of insurance, in which firms must be established in-market and are highly regulated locally, benefits from bilateral and multilateral trade agreements and healthy trading bilateral relationships to prevent non-tariff barriers to trade in services. Several of our member companies are industry leaders in Mexico and Canada making the USMCA, and NAFTA before it, critical to that continued success.

"NAFTA has been a success for the U.S. life insurance industry. ACLI hopes this modernized trilateral trade agreement can build on that success."