Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Tuesday that it is too early to grade President Trump’s trade agreement with Mexico and likened it to the administration’s North Korean agreement toward denuclearization announced after the Singapore summit in June.
“I’m a little worried this one is like North Korea,” Schumer told reporters at Senate Democrats’ weekly press conference. “They have a nice announcement, but then we don’t see the details and who knows what we’ll see afterwards. So, we’re in a period of watchful waiting. Let’s see the details.”
Trump said his agreement is part of his effort to renegotiate NAFTA, and said Canada would either have to do a new deal or cope with tariffs he’s prepared to impose on Canadian auto exports.
[Related: Can the US exclude Canada from its trade deal with Mexico?]
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told reporters Tuesday that the agreement between the two sides is “not a bad deal” from his perspective and for his state, but that he and other members still want to see how Canada fits into a future deal.
“We’re probably all going to wait and see whether this becomes a Canadian deal as well, trilateral instead of just bilateral,” McConnell said. “I think there was a palpable sense of relief among most of the members in my conference at the announcement yesterday.”
Trump is also pushing North Korea to hold up its end of the bargain of the deal struck in Singapore two months ago. He canceled Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s scheduled visit to the peninsula because the North Koreans are “not making sufficient progress” toward denuclearization, according to a presidential tweet on Friday.
