On the day President Donald Trump is scheduled to arrive in Phoenix next week, two dozen Arizona legislators will be leaving on a goodwill mission to Mexico.

The North American Free Trade Agreement has been a critical component to Arizona’s economic success over the last nearly 25 years. The deal between the U.S., Canada and Mexico has allowed businesses to boom and fueled tremendous job growth.

House Republican allies of President Donald Trump are intent on giving him a long-sought victory in Congress by finally making a down payment on his long-promised wall along the U.S. border with Mexico.

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey told a U.S.-Mexico diplomacy conference June 14 that maintaining good trade between the countries is important, and he expects the state to have a “seat at the table” in any upcoming trade negotiations.

We have less than 90 days to communicate to our federal elected officials in the U.S and in Mexico about the potential “modernization” of NAFTA. In a worst-case scenario, the erection of new trade barriers could disrupt key U.S. and Mexican industries for years to come and force consumers to pay more for big-ticket items.

At a forum in Phoenix this morning, business leaders emphasized how NAFTA has benefited the state’s economy, noting that more than 100,000 Arizona jobs depend on trade with its southern neighbor and roughly $17 billion in trade flows between Arizona and Mexico.

A binational treaty on water between the United States and Mexico will expire by the end of this year, but President Donald Trump’s rhetorical broadsides directed at America’s southern neighbor could complicate negotiations to extend it.

It is clear that there is a distorted picture of NAFTA in our nation’s capital. Rather than losing jobs due to a trade deficit, per the Mexico Institute, more than 4.9 million jobs in the U.S. are tied to trade with Mexico.

The president of the Arizona-Mexico commission has resigned from the unpaid position. The commission is a public-private organization that promotes trade, networking and information-sharing across the border.

Free-trade advocates in Arizona are nervously awaiting President-elect Donald Trump’s trade policies.