<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><b class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">POLITICO<o:p class=""></o:p></span></b></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><b class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""> </span></b></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">NAFTA supporters launch ad campaign courting Trump voters<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">By Doug Palmer <o:p class=""></o:p></div><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">11/09/2017 03:08 PM EDT<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">A coalition of business groups and other NAFTA supporters introduced an <a href="http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e20e20b42ccc463bb4f9b020a4be3ef3dff47ff48fe3ca1c51f47d6687fd7ab7f027e9e5f61d42c815df763e4a603e3e" target="_blank" style="color: purple;" class="">ad</a> on Thursday aimed at persuading voters in states that President Donald Trump won in last year's election to speak out in favor of the pact.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">"Tell President Trump to keep NAFTA because NAFTA works for America," the 60-second ad says.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">It was paid for by the Trade Leadership Coalition, a group led by Caterpillar's former chief lobbyist, Bill Lane, which has stepped up to challenge Trump on trade. It will run through Nov. 21 in nine states: Iowa, South Dakota, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Texas, Michigan and Tennessee.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">"For over 20 years under the North American Free Trade Agreement, the North American region has grown and the United States is stronger than ever before," the ad says.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">The coalition's Executive Director Jamie McInerney said the group spent in the "mid-five-figures" on the ad buy, which coincides with the fifth round of talks on the NAFTA pact Nov. 17-21 in Mexico City. The group also commissioned a <a href="http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e20e20b42ccc463b728b6f30a56c25dcaa6e738e2aaf91c0641786cd65c2ab64518ed3cc52a9afbfebc4ab4cc4e5dedc" target="_blank" style="color: purple;" class="">survey</a> of large investors, which found NAFTA withdrawal could trigger a stock market drop.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">The campaign comes as many groups are increasingly worried the NAFTA negotiations are headed for failure, and Trump will make good on his repeated threat to pull out of the pact.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">That became clearer after the fourth round of renegotiations last month in Washington. Talks ran aground over the Trump administration proposals in areas such as autos, dispute settlement and government procurement and the three sides agreed to wait a month before holding the fifth round.</p></body></html>