Brothers Tim and Pat Monahan, of the Thomas Monahan Company, told an attentive crowd Thursday evening how the North American Free Trade Agreement has positively affected their Arcola-based business.

The Thomas Monahan Company supplies raw materials to the broom and mop industry.

Tim Monahan, president of the Monahan Company, said NAFTA, which was created in 1994, aims to create a global marketplace by implementing free-trade policy by dropping barriers of entry that formally prevented countries from being competitive players.

“What NAFTA has done, from our viewpoint, is shown that the system (of free trade) is working,” said Tim Monahan.

Despite his gratitude toward NAFTA, Tim Monahan acknowledged the U.S. broom industry went through an adjustment period when NAFTA dropped the tariff rate on imported brooms from 30 percent to 23 percent.

“At this time, it was hard for U.S. broom companies that used broomcorn to be competitive and plastic brooms started selling rapidly,” Tim Monahan said. “But for today, NAFTA as a whole has been tremendously successful in increasing the sales [of exports].”

In fact, Tim Monahan said a 55 percent increase in state exports occurred from 1997 to 2000.

In addition to an increase in exports, NAFTA has opened up the marketplace, making it easier for U.S. businesses like the Monahan Company to interact with foreign markets.

Hungary, China and Ethiopia are just a few of the countries from which the Monahan Company is getting broomcorn today.

Though the Monahan brothers are optimistic about the emergence of more free markets, Tim Monahan stressed, “we need to keep more free markets.”

Looking to the future, Pat Monahan said the broom industry will soon see a major change.

“Mexico will not be the lead producer of brooms five or six years from now,” he said. “This can be attributed to the rising standard of living and income in Mexico.”

Pat Monahan said China, or perhaps Ethiopia, will emerge as the new leader in the industry.

“The United States is better off (because of NAFTA),” Pat Monahan said. “You’re buying your brooms cheaper.”