The federal government shutdown that began in December complicating President Trump’s push to get the U.S.-Mexico-Canada-Agreement on trade through Congress. A key federal report related to the deal that must be sent to Congress has been delayed because the federal agency that was preparing it had its staff furloughed for the 35 days of the shutdown.
“We halted all of our investigations and open matters,” Jennifer Andberg, director of external relations for the International Trade Commission, told the Washington Examiner.
The ITC’s report, which analyzes the economic impact of the deal, is required under Trade Promotion Authority, the law that governs the process for submitting trade deals to Congress. The USMCA study was initially due to be sent to Congress on March 15, 105 days after President Trump signed the USMCA deal on Nov. 30. The new date is apparently April 19. USMCA would replace the 1993 North American Free Trade Agreement.
“The Commission has changed the date for transmittal of its report to the President and Congress from no later than 105 days after the President entered into the agreement, to no later than 105 days plus an additional 35 days due to the lapse of appropriation between December 22, 2018 and January 25, 2019,” the ITC said in a Federal Register entry published on Feb. 19.
While the delay is unlikely to be fatal to USMCA, it further slows the approval process for a trade deal that was already facing friction on Capitol Hill. Several lawmakers in both parties lawmakers are demanding that the White House lift tariffs on Canadian and Mexican steel and aluminum as part of the deal, a move the administration has thus far refused to do. Trade-skeptical Democrats are criticizing the deal as well.
