US economy

Trump says ‘a lot of strides’ made on USMCA deal


Donald Trump said “a lot of strides” had been made in negotiations to pave the way for ratification of a US trade agreement with Canada and Mexico to replace Nafta, amid signs that an agreement with congressional Democrats could come as soon as this week.

Speaking from the White House on Monday, Mr Trump struck an upbeat tone on the fate of the USMCA deal, which has been stalled for months on Capitol Hill as Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic Speaker of the House of Representatives, pushed for changes to the pact, including tighter labour standards in Mexico.

“We’re doing very, very well on USMCA, hearing from unions and others that it’s looking good,” the US president said. He added that “a lot of strides” had been made “over the last 24 hours”.

“If they put it up for a vote, it’ll pass,” he said.

Robert Lighthizer, the US trade representatives, has been immersed in talks with Ms Pelosi, along with Mexican and Canadian officials, to try to finalise the agreement so it could at least pass the lower chamber of the US Congress before the December holiday break.

In a sign of progress, Chuck Grassley, the Iowa Republican senator and close ally of Mr Trump, said he spoke to Mr Lighthizer on Monday and was hopeful there would be “an announcement on a deal soon”, according to a spokesperson.

An agreement over USMCA would remove a big source of uncertainty for investors and business over the path of US trade policy under Mr Trump, as the chances of a deal to pause the trade war with China remain in limbo and the US administration ratchets up economic tensions with the EU.

“There’s just a feeling on the part of industry that they want to get this over with,” said Rufus Yerxa, president of the National Foreign Trade Council, a lobby group for business in Washington. “It’s important to eliminate uncertainty with regards to the North American market — we have enough troubles with our increasingly difficult relationships with Asia and Europe.”

After viciously attacking the existing Nafta trade deal on the 2016 campaign trail, Mr Trump is likely to place the revised USMCA pact as a key economic pillar in his re-election bid next year. Until his more optimistic remarks on Monday, he was frequently attacking Ms Pelosi for holding up the deal and focusing instead on impeachment.

Ms Pelosi had frequently said she was open to giving a green light to the pact, as long as some changes were made, and had been facing increasing pressure from members of her party representing swing districts to allow the deal to go ahead.

With many rank-and-file Democrats sceptical about the benefits of a deal, and wary of giving Mr Trump a win, it was unclear whether she was prepared to get over the finish line.

Richard Trumka, the leader of the AFL-CIO labour union federation, who has previously criticised the pact and whose support could be pivotal among Democrats, was briefing members of his organisation’s executive council on some of the changes on Monday afternoon.

In recent days the Trump administration has considered several steps to nudge Ms Pelosi and Mr Trumka to let the USMCA pact proceed, including stripping provisions aimed at reducing the advantages for technology and pharmaceuticals businesses, tightening requirements for North American steel used in car manufacturing and allowing US inspections of labour standards in Mexico.

Some of the changes have unnerved Mexican officials. Marcelo Ebrard, Mexico’s foreign minister, said his country would not accept US labour inspectors but would consider a panel to resolve disputes. Speaking after a meeting with US senators on Sunday, he said: “If this scheme of panels were accepted, we would be very happy to apply it to resolve controversies not just regarding labour but also other issues.”

A requirement to use 70 per cent US steel and aluminium in the car industry “would cause us a lot of problems” said Mr Ebrard, adding that Mexico would tell the US “that we will not accept in any way that this obligation enters into force at the same time that the treaty is ratified . . . but that it would have to be with a timeframe of more than five years. If not, there’s no way we’d accept that.”

Some Republican lawmakers also worried that the substance of the deal was moving too far in Democrats’ favour. They are nevertheless unlikely to vote against it.

“What I’m a little concerned about is that [Mr Lighthizer]’s spent all of his time trying to appease Democrats and how far they’ve moved on some of the key provisions, and I’m going to want some assurance that he hasn’t given away the store,” John Cornyn, the Republican senator from Texas, said, according to news website Politico.



READ SOURCE

Leave a Reply

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you accept our use of cookies.