Former Minnesota Republican congressman Erik Paulsen announced on Wednesday he had joined the Pass USMCA Coalition, an ad-hoc group of trade associations lobbying Congress to pass President Trump’s U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade.
The White House is waiting on Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to schedule a vote on the deal, but the speaker has resisted on the grounds that there are still concerns with its enforcement mechanisms.
Mexico passed a labor reform package on Monday related to the trade deal that Democrats had previously requested, prompting a renewed lobbying effort by the trade deal’s supporters.
“USMCA will strengthen America’s economy and boost opportunities for American workers. My former colleagues should move this deal across the finish line quickly,” Paulsen said.
Paulsen represented a Minneapolis-area district for 10 years and was a member of the Ways and Means Committee, which is responsible for overseeing trade.
The Pass USMCA Coalition represents various associations including PhRMA, the main lobbying arm of the drug manufacturers, the National Cotton Council, and the Canadian-American Business Council, among others. It has also enlisted Trump’s former deputy chief of staff, Rick Dearborn, and Clinton administration commerce secretary Gary Locke to lobby Congress.
