Elizabeth Warren said she would support the U.S.-Mexico-Canada-Agreement on trade, one of President Trump’s top trade priorities.
Warren, a top contender for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination who had previously opposed the deal, said Friday that the final version would be a net benefit to the economy.
“Workers have had the legs taken out from underneath them, and this agreement makes improvements,” the Massachusetts Democrat told a Boston CBS affiliate. “It’s gonna help open up some markets for farmers, they need that stability. It’s gonna help with enforceable labor standards, and that’s gonna be useful.”
Warren had opposed the initial version of the USMCA, which would replace the 1993 North American Free Agreement, when it was announced in late 2018. “Trump’s deal won’t stop the serious and ongoing harm NAFTA causes for American workers. It won’t stop outsourcing, it won’t raise wages, and it won’t create jobs. It’s NAFTA 2.0,” she said.
Warren’s rival for the Democratic Party nod, independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, has said that he will oppose USMCA. “It is not going to stop outsourcing. It is not going to stop corporations from moving to Mexico,” Sanders said during a Dec. 19 candidate debate.
The White House spent the entirety of 2019 negotiating with House Democrats to create a compromise version of the trade deal that could pass the House. USMCA eventually passed the House on Dec. 19 after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said sufficient improvements had been incorporated, especially regarding labor rights. The deal is expected to be brought up in the Senate early this year and is expected to pass the Republican-majority body.
Warren on Monday took a similar stance as House Democrats by saying the latest version of USMCA was good enough. “It’s not as much improvement as I’d like to see, but right now they’re in a terrible hole where Donald Trump has put them. I want to get them out of that hole.”
