Connecticut Democrat Rosa DeLauro said Wednesday that the negotiations for the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade are “not over yet” and numerous key issues have yet to be resolved.
The comments indicate that a fast resolution of the trade deal may not happened before the year runs out.
DeLauro is part of the nine-member Democratic working group tasked by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with negotiating USMCA with the Trump administration. They have been meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and officials from his office throughout the summer in the hopes of resolving differences and getting a fall vote set up. The deal would replace the 1993 North American Free Trade Agreement. DeLauro’s comments Wednesday indicated that little progress has been made.
“As we have said from the outset, we need changes to the text of the agreement to include strong, enforceable labor and environmental standards to stop the endless job outsourcing and pollution of our natural resources,” DeLauro said in a statement Wednesday. “[W]e still have not seen Mexico’s proposed budget to implement its new labor laws, nor have they provided a clear strategy for dealing with legal challenges of those labor law reforms from protection unions. They have also not addressed outstanding labor cases. This all goes to show that the renegotiation process is not over yet.”
The Connecticut lawmaker was responding to a statement released by Sen. Ben Sasse, a Nebraska Republican. The senator had criticized her for telling a state newspaper that a vote on the trade deal “could seep into next year.” Sasse accused DeLauro and Pelosi of leaving “farmers and ranchers bleeding. It’s easy to say that in Connecticut or San Francisco — they ought to come to Nebraska and look our farmers and ranchers in the eye. This isn’t political to a lot of moms and dads who are teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. Madame Speaker, schedule the vote.”
DeLauro said Wednesday that she stood by ‘seep into next year’ comment. “I gave my honest assessment that the changes Democrats are seeking for American workers and people who are paying too much for prescription drugs may take time.”
