Trump sidesteps Pelosi’s slow-walk of USMCA trade deal

May 31, 2019

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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been dragging her feet on a potential trilateral trade deal between the U.S., Canada, and Mexico that will protect American interests and further boost the economy. But President Donald Trump is tired of waiting on Democratic obstructionists like Pelosi who are standing in the way of progress. 

Ignoring Pelosi’s request for a review, the president introduced on Tuesday a draft “statement of administrative action” that will reform the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

Time’s up!

The president’s proposal to establish a new trade deal with Canada and Mexico will automatically go to Congress for a vote in 30 days, according to three people briefed on the subject who spoke to Mercury News. If passed, Trump would score a major political victory by following through on a frequently touted campaign pledge to improve NAFTA’s terms to better serve American workers and consumers.

House Democrats were unwilling to concede a victory to the Republican president and were biding their time by asking to thoroughly review the trade deal and make changes before it was submitted. Trump sent a signal to Democrats this week that the time for deliberation was over, sparking outrage and dissent from the progressive caucus.

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“It indicates a lack of knowledge on the part of the administration on the policy and process to pass a trade agreement,” Pelosi said in a Thursday statement attacking the deal.

The House majority leader also tried to convince U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to reconsider White House plans to move forward without spending more time consulting with Democrats, who have been consistently critical of the president’s aggressive trade policy against China and the European Union. Based on Trump’s 30-day deadline, however, it seems the administration isn’t interested in negotiating.

Leaving the door open

Meanwhile, White House officials appear to be split on how to proceed. Some of Trump’s advisors have asked the president to listen to Pelosi and bring Democrats in on the policy prescription.

Other officials believe that House Democrats are merely buying time to stall the plan long enough to kill what could be a flagship accomplishment of Trump’s administration. They believe that some degree of pressure is necessary to force a compromise, and a one-month deadline should be plenty of time to consider the ramifications of a proposal that has been in the making for months.

 

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anonymous senior White House official. “This is absolutely ridiculous.”

Government procedures require that Trump gives Congress 30 days to consider a draft proposal, at which point the White House can submit the final text of the trade deal and initiate a vote. However, the administration still retains the option to wait beyond 30 days after legislators receive the draft to send the formal agreement to Congress, leaving the door upon for further negotiation.

For their part, Pelosi and other progressive members of Congress are demanding that any NAFTA rewrite include enforceable rules concerning environmental and labor regulations.

“We all agree that we must replace NAFTA, but without real enforcement mechanisms, we would be locking American workers into another bad deal,” Pelosi said. “A new trade agreement without enforcement is not progress for the American worker, just a press release for the president.”

In a letter to Pelosi, Lighthizer countered by noting that Trump still wants to work with Democrats to reach an agreement that appeals to both parties. Submitting the draft proposal, according to the trade expert, “does not limit our ability to find solutions to address concerns Members have raised about enforcement of the labor and environmental provisions of the Agreement and pharmaceutical pricing.”

NAFTA 2.0

Trump’s new plan was ironed out after months of negotiations with Mexico and Canada, and it is designed to attract automotive and industrial development in the U.S. — investments that were compromised after then-President Bill Clinton brokered the original deal in the early 1990s. NAFTA 2.0 would make it harder for economic aggressors like China to avoid import penalties and would guarantee higher wages for workers throughout North America.

While Vice President Mike Pence continues to hammer out the details with Canadian President Justin Trudeau, the biggest obstacle to finalizing an agreement will undoubtedly be House Democrats — a sad reality for an economic proposal that promises to benefit all Americans.