zoomImage Courtesy: Port of New York/New Jersey

The United States should work to modernize the North American Free Trade Agreement but should not withdraw from the agreement, the National Retail Federation said.

“While we support modernizing the agreement, we are concerned that some of the proposals the United States has or will put forward move away from the ‘do no harm’ mantra touted by the administration and supported by the business community,” Matthew Shay, NRF President and CEO, wrote in an op-ed.

“A true modernization of NAFTA should push the agreement forward to address today’s environment as well as the future. Unfortunately, many key proposals seem to look backward and may end up doing more harm than good.”

Shay said threatening to withdraw from NAFTA or to include a sunset provision “should be a non-starter” and that proposals to include restrictive new rules of origin, new trade remedies or the elimination of investor protections should be rejected.

“An end to NAFTA would cost the United States jobs and harm the economy while resulting in higher prices for consumers and reduced availability of products,” he said.