The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement remains a major priority for the White House, despite President Trump’s recent remarks suggesting it would take a backseat to border security.
The White House departments of legislative affairs, public liaison, and intergovernmental affairs, as well as National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, have been holding dozens of meetings and calls with members of Congress, trade organizations, stakeholders, governors, and state and local leaders regarding the trade deal.
“The USMCA is the best trade agreement ever negotiated and is a huge win for America’s workers. We are working closely with Congress to ensure its passage,” a senior White House official told the Washington Examiner.
Trump drew concerns Friday that he would undermine his own trade deal after he threatened via tweet to impose a 25% tariff on Mexican auto exports and to close the U.S.-Mexico border. “This will supersede USMCA,” he tweeted.
The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which would replace the existing North American Free Trade agreement, would encourage production of more automobiles in North America, open up the Canadian market to American dairy exports, and strengthen protections for American intellectual property. It also includes side letters that would preclude Trump from imposing tariffs on vehicles from Canada and Mexico.
The president also told reporters on April 2 that “security is more important” than trade, acknowledging that a border closure would have a negative impact on the economy.
Tori Whiting, a trade economist at the Heritage Foundation, expressed concern with Trump’s comments.
“For the most part, when the president has threatened to impose tariffs, those tariffs have usually gone into effect. And that’s a concern,” Whiting said.
But Rick Dearborn, executive director of Pass USMCA Coalition, said he viewed Trump’s remarks as part of an attempt to deal with the border crisis, not to undermine the trade agreement.
“A president juggles a whole multitude of issues, and right now he’s really focused on the one that’s right in front of his face,” Dearborn said. “Sometimes you have to deal with emergencies. It doesn’t mean other issues are not important.”
Republican aides told the Washington Examiner that while Trump’s recent comments confused people on the Hill, the deal is still very important to the White House, which is in “frequent communication with” and working with Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa; House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La.; House Ways and Means ranking member Kevin Brady, R-Texas; and a whip team to pass the trade deal.
“The White House continues to tell us this is their No. 1 legislative priority,” a senior Republican aide said.
In addition, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Lighthizer have each held more than 200 meetings on the Hill working the deal.
“We’ve seen a full-court press from the administration and the USTR,” said John Murphy, senior vice president for international affairs at the Chamber of Commerce. “That’s included hundreds of meetings with Republicans and Democrats. Ambassador Lighthizer has been burning up shoe leather meeting with people on the Hill.”
Still, a senior Democratic aide said they had “seen little evidence” that the trade deal was a priority, citing Trump’s tweet about the auto tariff and a “lack of outreach” from the administration, though Lighthizer has recently held meetings with freshmen Democrats, the House Democratic Caucus, the Ways and Means Committee, the Blue Dogs, and the New Democrats.
The agreement has yet to be approved by the legislatures of the U.S., Mexico, and Canada. But trade organizations hope to see it finished by August, before Congress takes its summer recess and before the 2020 presidential campaign season kicks into high gear. They stressed the importance of eliminating U.S. tariffs, which could be a barrier to ratification.
“I can’t see any scenario where Canada and Mexico would ratify the agreement while we still have tariffs in place,” said Kip Eideberg, vice president of the Association of Equipment Manufacturers.
Republicans and many moderate Democrats are largely on board with the agreement, according to senior Republican and Democratic staffers, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has not scheduled a vote. While many Democrats support the trade deal, they are hesitant to hand Trump a win — and a Republican aide suggested this may have played a role in Trump’s tweets.
“Right now the votes are there, but Democrats don’t want to give Trump a victory, so they’re dragging it out,” the aide said. “I think he knows that if he moves away from something, it is more likely to get done. The Democrats want to keep President Trump from a win, and the more quickly he moves away from this issue and moves onto something harsher, the more it’s a win for them and not him, so it’s more likely to get passed.”
