Vice President Pence visits Charlotte area for trade, convention fundraiser

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Vice President Mike Pence traveled to North Carolina Wednesday to celebrate the approach of next year's Republican National Convention, and visited a textile plant before a trip to Greensboro to attend a political fundraiser.

The vice president arrived in Charlotte midday to participate in an RNC kickoff meeting. The convention will be held next August.

He then toured Parkdale Mills in Monroe and spoke to employees about what the vice president's office says are the benefits of a new trade agreement between Mexico, Canada and the U.S.

The agreement replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement, and critics believe it could negatively impact American manufacturing companies like Parkdale Mills, causing them to pay higher prices on certain materials.

Parkdale is the largest cotton consumer in the U.S., exporting yarn to nearly two dozen countries. That, in a state that has the second-most jobs in the textiles industry of any in the country.

"We have to level the playing field for American workers by forging trade deals that put Americans first," Pence said during a speech at the facility.

The trade deal -- the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement -- is stalled in Congress, as opponents of the agreement believe the replacement for NAFTA could be ultimately harmful to some U.S. businesses because it could make them pay higher prices for certain materials.

Parkdale Incorporated CEO Andy Warlick said the agreement would only strengthen the textiles industry in the U.S.

"My job is to thank them for standing up for us ... to bring jobs back by fixing inequities in NAFTA," Warlick said.

Pence is also the special guest at a "Trump Victory" fundraising event in Greensboro.

U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis will be there. Tillis' campaign is raising money, too, for his own reelection campaign next year.

Associated Press