O’Rourke: Trump’s trade wars will hurt energy industry Candidate: Trade wars, the threat of unilaterally withdrawing from NAFTA is really bad for the Texas economy, Texas jobs and the energy industry

Beto O'Rourke, US Representative from El Paso, stopped in Midland on his campaign for US Senate, April 7, 2018, at the MLK Center. James Durbin/Reporter-Telegram Beto O'Rourke, US Representative from El Paso, stopped in Midland on his campaign for US Senate, April 7, 2018, at the MLK Center. James Durbin/Reporter-Telegram Photo: James Durbin Buy photo Photo: James Durbin Image 1 of / 17 Caption Close O’Rourke: Trump’s trade wars will hurt energy industry 1 / 17 Back to Gallery

The nation is currently renegotiating the North America Free Trade Agreement, which could threaten oil companies’ interests in the newly liberalized Mexican oil industry if their investment protections are stripped. In March, more than 100 Republican lawmakers urged President Donald Trump administration not to scrap investor protections.

U.S. Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke wants to improve NAFTA, “but we cannot lose that critically important relationship with Mexico and Canada and, by extension, the rest of the world.”

“Whether it is the energy we produce, whether it is the cotton we grow, whether it is the cattle we raise, all of this has a connection to the rest of the world and very often is looking for a market somewhere else,” he told media before his campaign event in Midland on Saturday at the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center. “These trade wars, the threat of unilaterally withdrawing from NAFTA is really bad for the Texas economy, Texas jobs and the energy industry.”

The oil and gas industry is vital not just to West Texas, but the entire state’s economy. O’Rourke, who currently is a U.S. representative from El Paso, said making Texas a stronger voice on oil and gas issues in Washington, D.C., requires listening to everyone involved, including those who are working in the oil fields, those who are making investments in the industry and those who have to deal with the consequences when there isn’t adequate accountability.

“We were just listening to farmers (in Glasscock County) about groundwater and making sure that we refresh that, we recharge that and recycle that water so that we make sure this area is sustainable for a very long time,” he said.

As oil and gas activity increases in the Permian, so does the stress on the often-inadequate transportation infrastructure that wasn’t built to withstand rigorous punishment from wide, heavy loads such as from sand and water haulers. O’Rourke said investment in infrastructure is necessary but must be broader than highways and byways.

“That means roads having more lanes on our highways. That means investment in broadband infrastructure, which we’re missing from much of rural West Texas,” he said. “That investment in infrastructure also means jobs — the jobs of people connected to it and the smaller communities of the Permian Basin that now become more competitive for jobs and investment in young people and talent because they have the infrastructure to support that.

“At the federal level, that means we fight for the appropriations for West Texas. We need a senator who shows up and listens to what’s on the minds of the people here, what their needs are and then delivers for them once they’re in the Senate.”

The escalating tariff tussle between the Trump administration and China isn’t good for Texas, O’Rourke said. “The tariffs imposed by this administration are hurting this country, and no state will bear more of the burden than Texas. It’s going to be hard for our cotton to find markets overseas, for the cattle we’re raising here to find their destination outside this country.”

“We talked about energy earlier and the fact that we’re a trading state. A million jobs depend on the U.S-Mexico trading relationship,” he said. “We need a senator who is going to work with this president when we can and is going to stand up to him when he is going to hurt Texas jobs and economic growth. That’s what I want to do for Texas.”