United States-based electroindustry capacity is growing, contributing to hopes that the domestic industry — in conjunction with closely-aligned suppliers in Mexico and Canada — will be ready to meet a possible demand surge fueled by rampant electrification and critical electrical grid improvements across the nation.
The industry’s mouthpiece, National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA), says the industry has invested over $185 billion in U.S. capacity since 2018 — batteries being a big beneficiary — and has accounted for nearly half of U.S. manufacturing growth in recent years. And more growth is expected; NEMA says a member survey done in September 2025 pointed to another $60 billion being invested over the next five years.
Expectations for growing electrical equipment demand, and the need for a stable and thriving domestic industry to handle it have led the group to put an important North American trade agreement on its radar scope. Along with associations that represent counterparts in Mexico and Canada, NEMA is pushing for changes to “improve and strengthen” the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which is up for review in July and under close scrutiny by the Trump administration.
In a joint letter to each nation’s trade ambassadors, NEMA, La Cámara Nacional de Manufacturas Eléctricas (CANAME), and Electro-Federation Canada (EFC) call for a swift and formal renewal of the agreement that’s been in place since 2020, but with tweaks broadly related to improved standardization and harmonization that would “unlock the trilateral pact’s potential” to the benefit of the industry in the three nations.
Notable among them was a call for closer alignment of the electrical standard in Mexico with the U.S. National Electrical Code, which now diverge and constitute “not merely a technical matter, (but one that) has far-reaching implications for Mexico’s ability to fulfill its obligations under Article 11 of the USMCA, to remain competitive in the region, and to ensure the safety and modernization of its infrastructure,” wrote NEMA senior director of global policy, Patrick Lozada, in a separate November letter to the U.S. Trade Representative.
In calling for the trade pact’s renewal and strengthening, the associations say USMCA has been partly responsible for the North American industry’s ability to reduce reliance on imports of key manufacturing components, notably from China.
