Chamber Of Commerce Brings Binational Delegation To Lobby D.C. Leaders

A très derogation of officials from San Diego in Tijuana's is in Washington DC this week. Their mission is to bring the messenger binational cooperation and trade to lawmakers and policymakers. If they NAFTA will be high on the list of priorities. It is not the only issue. Border policy in general will be discussed along with issues of healthcare. In tax reform. Before delegation left, Jerry Sanders, president of the regional chamber commerce, talked with us about what the delegation to Washington hopes to achieve.The chamber of commerce leads to these binational allegations every year. One Mexico City and Washington DC. In March when he went to Mexico capital, some of the top messages were that you did not want to border wall, and stay in after. Those might be harder South MTC. They still among the top priorities?Yes. We do not think border wall is effective. And we think the money is much better spent in modernizing the border using technology. Customs and border protection to focus on the half percent of people who they actually need to focus on. AWOL, we have one. But there are long stretches within the U. S. No reason to pull one out. Smacked president Jim said NAFTA is the worst. In a can be renegotiated. And probably cannot. And he wants out of it. Which version of this do you think you may encounter among Trump supporters in Washington?Among Trump supporters they should get out of NAFTA. We simply do not believe it. It has been very good for cross-border trade. And San Diego region. We think it does need to be improved. The Internet was not even going when they started NAFTA. There are a lot of issues with Bennett. That can be improved for both sides. We are optimistic that reasonable people can reach an agreement on a trade agreement. This is not just Mexico and the U. S. It is also Canada. Both to close his traded partners. We need to treat them with the same respect.Both of you have spoken before about the power of touring the San Diego Tijuana after success story. Because he says, no one else will tell if Boris. What is your strategy to drive the story home in DC?That is the reason why we take a large delegation, 165 people. By far the largest we have ever had on the trip. Half binational. And we think when we go to DC, we are the only binational delegation that actually goes to DC. We think that tells a story right there. And when we talk to different representatives in different places, reaching out to representatives that are not border states, they start talking about facts. The number one expert parties problem Mexico. 27 states. And he goes for New Hampshire and I will and Washington. -- Iowa. He tried to get the message out and it's compelling.The position on healthcare, once to preserve expanded coverage under Obamacare you will meet with staffers for Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy, co-author of the grand Cassidy belt. Up for a phone a few days after you leave. Do you have a position on that bill specifically?Now. We actually that these positions. And we think that there needs to be some carefully thought-out things. Probably done in a bipartisan effort. We are worried about the cost of healthcare from business, especially small business. We also worried about the cost of healthcare -- it affects all of us.What about tax reform? Urging support. President Trump talked a lot about a 15% corporate tax rate. Is that something that chamber and members are pushing for?We think tax reform is necessary. We did a poll last month. 70% of small businesses another businesses said they want to see some type of tax reform. When you asked them what they want tax reform, breaks down into a lot of different thoughts. Everyone sees the need to have tax reform. To some extent. And certainly support reasonable tax deregulation or reform. And it spurs job hiring. What we are not seeing in the economy's investment by companies and their equipment and technology. I think that is left over relative the recession. He wants to spend a lot of money when they do not know what will happen with the tax reform.We have recently seen, and Kansas, possible warning against lowering tax rates too low. Is that a concern for you as well?If you look at what they did in Kansas, that is a pretty conservative group. And they went the. We are not sure how it works. Tax reform for business usually spurs job expansion. Which spurs payroll tax and sales tax. I do think you need to take into consideration who it will affect and how it will affect people.San Diego did not support President Trump and his election California soon the Trump administration on several issues. Why should the administration care about how things Diego economy?They need to have every economy. Not every statement for him and out of the region with her hand. But I think when we talk about reasonableness and we talk about good examples, like our class trade, about how NAFTA works in San Diego and some of the experiments on the border. With the joint agricultural inspection. Then I think the administration pays attention to them.Speaking with Jerry Sanders, president and CEO of the Daigle regional chamber commerce. Thank you so much.