Advancement of a trade agreement involving the U.S., Canada and Mexico is a great boon to Texas, where almost 400,000 jobs in this state are tied to business with our neighbor to the south alone.

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, this week referred to the emerging deal, the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, as NAFTA 2.0, the successor to the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement pact involving the three countries. Or maybe it’s just an evolution.

And while the state’s senior senator sees a long road ahead for the agreement especially in the U.S. Senate, where it needs approval, he said the agreement tightens up language from the first NAFTA, modernizes the deal and promises to keep lots of Texans employed.

No matter its future, he said, “It’s better than no trade agreement.” Absolutely.

In fact, that’s what many Texans might have felt. Although they embraced Trump’s election in 2016, his occasional opposition to free trade and his bellicose stances on Mexico have seemed to threaten a relationship with our neighbors that has become more cordial and beneficial to both countries since NAFTA’s advent.

Although President Trump hammered the agreement on the 2016 campaign and has since, NAFTA has delivered a bounty of benefits to Texas since its implementation. For Texans, Trump’s characterization of NAFTA, offered to a campaign crowd in The Woodlands, as “maybe the worst economic development transaction ever signed in the history of our country,” may ring hollow.

Among the states, Texas is the closest and biggest trade partner to Mexico, exporting some $97 billion in goods and services there in 2017 while importing some $89 billion. In case you’re keeping score, that’s a surplus for Texas.

There’s more. Texas has the second-largest economy among U.S. states, and Mexico’s burgeoning economy may yet stand among the world’s 10 largest. Mexico’s energy industry changes — it has loosened its hold over its state-owned oil industry — promises to deliver more opportunities for collaboration and trade north and south of the Rio Grande.

While campaigning in Texas, Texas Monthly reported, Trump said, “It’s taken our jobs just like we’re a bunch of babies — like we’re a bunch of babies — and moved ‘em to other places. Honestly? Moved ‘em all over Mexico.”

Texans might recall one of their own referring to “a giant sucking sound.” Except it wasn’t, not for Texas.

Texas Monthly has reported, as well, that our state’s Gross Domestic Product has grown almost fourfold since NAFTA, to $1.6 trillion — larger than Canada’s. We’ve led the nation in exports since 2001.

The Dallas News reports that Texas’ biggest exports to Canada have been computers and electronics. Wasn’t that part of what NAFTA was about? Everyone benefits, but the U.S. increases its high-end jobs?

A failure? Not for us.