The Burr & Forman Atlanta office recently hosted Global Atlanta's Export Stories event. The event showcases winners from ORBATL's Atlanta Metro Export Challenge, an initiative that helps local companies understand both the hurdles and opportunities of selling abroad. The Atlanta companies who served on the export panel included the Brandon Hall School, LivFul, DataSeers, and DNA Textile Group.

Event Recap from Global Atlanta

When Monte Galbraith was providing input on the "new NAFTA,"  he simply had one request from the federal government: Don’t disrupt supply chains that have just now settled from the shockwave sent by the initial trade agreement more than 20 years ago.

"We were just asking do no further harm, basically," said Mr. Galbraith, who runs DNA Textile Group, a mill in Columbus, Ga., that recently pivoted from consumer denim to protective fabrics.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s approach, meanwhile, has seemed to favor disruption over continuity — and not just in North America.

Dealing with the uncertainty resulting from real policy changes (and threats issued by tweet) was a key theme of Global Atlanta’s Export Stories: Trade War Edition, a reception, and forum hosted March 6 at the law firm of Burr and Forman in Midtown.

The annual event was held in partnership with Orbatl, which runs the Atlanta Metro Export Challenge, to help local companies understand both the hurdles and opportunities of selling abroad.

Speaking during a panel discussion, Mr. Galbraith said that tariffs weren’t the problem for producers who stayed home after the original NAFTA sent their customers scrambling across the border to reassemble as Mexican maquiladoras, Mr. Galbraith said. It was the loss of job losses and the abrupt compliance hurdles that came with cross-border sales.

Read the full story from Global Atlanta.