WASHINGTON — May 18, 2017 — BSA | The Software Alliance welcomes the Administration’s notification to Congress today that it intends to initiate negotiations on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The notification under the Trade Promotion Act (TPA) is a first step towards modernizing this important agreement in consultation with Congress.

The 1994 Agreement was negotiated before the emergence of the Internet as an engine for international commerce, and consequently lacks rules protecting and promoting digital trade. US software companies play a leading regional and global role in the dynamic and growing data economy. Modernizing NAFTA by guaranteeing the cross-border flow of data would safeguard and expand US commerce and jobs.

“We are gratified to see that the Administration has identified the development of digital trade as an example of the need to update NAFTA,” said Victoria Espinel, President and CEO of BSA | The Software Alliance. “BSA commends the Administration for its ambition to use the updating of NAFTA as an opportunity to address digital trade issues, such as cross-border data flows, which are crucial to job creation in the modern data economy. Making NAFTA a state-of-the-art trade agreement for North America will pave the way for advancing US digital trade interests with other countries.”