Michael Woods has been invited to the first Canada United States Mexico Agreement CUSMA Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Dialogue on , April 22, 2022, in San Antonio, Texas. The event will bring together SME stakeholders, including those from underrepresented communities for discussions with government officials to discuss strengthening regional trade and investment under CUSMA, enhancing cooperation on issues of mutual interest to SMEs, and helping more small businesses benefit from the CUSMA. The SME Dialogue is convened annually on a rotating basis among the three CUSAM partners. The first CUSMA SME Dialogue is being hosted by the United States together the University of Texas San Antonio Small Business Development Center (SBDC), the International Trade Center, and the U.S. Department of Commerce’s U.S. Export Assistance Center. The agenda includes a review of small business trade resources for exporting and importing under CUSMA; SMEs sharing their best practices for trading across Canada, the U.S. and Mexico; and small business COVID-19 recovery resources.
Michael was a member of the private sector SME “Working Group” that met with Global Affairs Canada negotiators during the CUSMA negotiations. The negotiations led to the precedent-setting SME Chapter [ Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) – Chapter 25 – Small and medium-sized enterprises (international.gc.ca) ] and other measures designed to increase trade opportunities for North American SMEs [ https://www.international.gc.ca/trade-commerce/trade-agreements-accords-commerciaux/agr-acc/cusma-aceum/business-commerce.aspx?lang=eng ].