It’s time to “ring the alarm bells” on NAFTA, the head of the U.S. Chamber warned.

The business community will fight to make sure it’s modernized, because abandoning the North American Free Trade Agreement is a “existential threat” to the continent’s national and economic security, said U.S. Chamber President and CEO Tom Donohue.

Speaking ahead of the U.S.-Mexico CEO dialogue [remarks as prepared], Donohue said:

Our free trade partners, in particular Canada and Mexico, are vital geopolitical allies in the fight against terrorism, transnational crime, and illegal immigration. In these trying and complicated times, we must double down on these relationships, not drive them apart.

By tying together the U.S., Canada, and Mexico more closely economically, Donohue argued, NAFTA has been an economic benefit for North America's citizens:

It has helped us build deeply integrated supply chains that have created tens of millions of jobs for Americans, Mexicans, and Canadians.

They enjoy an improved quality of life and a lower cost of living because we make things together and trade with each other.

In fact, U.S. exports to Canada and Mexico generate nearly $37,000 in annual export revenue for every American factory worker.

“The trilateral commercial relationship is far too valuable to American businesses, workers, and economic growth for us to retreat or turn inward,” he added.

Trade with Canada and Mexico supports 14 million jobs and more than 125,000 small and medium-size American businesses export to the two countries.