The Senate is set to hold a final vote on President Trump’s United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade on Thursday, sending the deal to the president’s desk and giving the White House back-to-back wins on trade, following Wednesday’s signing of “phase one” of a trade deal with China.
“We anticipate that the Senate will continue with the USMCA tomorrow and send this landmark trade deal to President Trump for his signature,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday.
The Senate’s Commerce, Foreign Relations, Appropriations and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committees all approved the deal Wednesday. That removed the final obstacle to a floor vote. The Senate’s approval will come more than a year after the underlying deal, which would replace the 1993 North American Free Trade Agreement, was reached between the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.
“We are now one step closer to enacting this agreement, which would benefit manufacturers, farmers, ranchers, and agribusinesses of all sizes and would provide enhanced intellectual property protections for the technology and creative industries,” said Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, a Mississippi Republican, following his panel’s approval of the deal.
The votes were bipartisan, with most Democrats saying the deal was at least an improvement over NAFTA, which they attributed to changes insisted on by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California.
“The president’s deal with Mexico and Canada fell short, but I support the improvements Speaker Pelosi and House Democrats won to make this a better trade deal that I can support,” said Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a Wisconsin Democrat.
