Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., warned Wednesday that not enough Democrats support President Trump’s U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement for it to pass the House of Representatives, and that administration attempts to pressure Congress to pass it would fail.
“Talking to other members, my strong first impression is that there’s a lot of work needed on access and cost of Rx drugs in NAFTA 2.0 to get committee support and House passage,” tweeted Blumenauer, who chairs the Ways and Means subcommittee on trade.
The USMCA deal would replace the 1993 North American Free Trade Agreement.
The congressman said that significant changes needed to be made to the deal’s labor, environmental, and enforcement provisions, changes that would likely require reopening talks with Mexico and Canada. “Trying to force consideration of this trade deal prematurely is not a recipe for success,” he said.
President Trump is angling to get the deal through Congress early this year. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer formally gave notice to Congress regarding the deal late last month.
The deal has drawn bipartisan criticism. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has said Mexico must pass far-reaching labor reforms called for in the deal first. Mexico has passed only limited reforms. Some Republicans are critical as well. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., has said it would harm his state’s agricultural industry and Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., has called for more free-market reforms.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to pull the U.S. out of NAFTA as a means to pressure Congress to pass its replacement.
The USMCA’s main provision requires that 75 percent of the parts of a car need to be made in North America for it to be duty-free, up from the 62.5 percent level set by NAFTA. It also requires that at least 40 percent of all auto content be made by workers making at least $16 an hour or equivalent. Democrats and unions have long called for such measures to protect domestic jobs.
