White House and Democratic negotiators are close to reaching a deal on the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade, according to numerous sources with knowledge of the situation.
Some lingering issues remain to be addressed, but a final deal could be announced in days or possibly even hours.
Senate Finance Chairman Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican, was given an upbeat assessment Monday by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and “is hopeful there will be an announcement on a deal soon,” Michael Zona, spokesman for the chairman, told the Washington Examiner. Other people with knowledge of the negotiations disputed media reports early Monday that a deal had been reached but said that an announcement could happen in the near future.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka was scheduled to hold a conference call Monday with other leaders of the labor federation to brief them on a proposed USMCA compromise.
Lighthizer and White House adviser Jared Kushner are scheduled to travel to Mexico on Tuesday to work on the final details of USMCA, an administration official told Reuters.
Over the weekend, Mexican officials said they were moving forward to finalize changes to USMCA, which is referred to as T-MEC in Mexico. “We receive from the negotiating team the status of advances in labor, environmental, biological and panels, which may be included in an amendment protocol for the benefit of Mexico. Yes to #TMEC,” Ricardo Monreal, leader of the Mexican Senate, tweeted Sunday. The statement was retweeted by Marcelo Ebrard, Mexico’s secretary of foreign affairs.
Democrats and the White House have negotiated for months, with party leaders such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi saying they “want to get to yes” but never quite reaching it. Democrats have demanded extensive modifications to the underlying deal, arguing that it lacked strong enforcement mechanisms, especially on its labor rights provisions.
Last week, Mexican officials pushed back against some proposals for factory inspections in their country but gave ground in other areas, such as protections for biologic drugs. By the end of the week, Mexico’s chief negotiator, Jesus Seade, deputy foreign minister for North America, said the talks were on the “last issues.”
