[CTC] Ross, Vaughn meet with House trade advisory group on NAFTA

[Arthur Stamoulis]

Inside US Trade

Ross, Vaughn meet with House trade advisory group on NAFTA

March 21, 2017 
 
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, acting U.S. Trade Representative Stephen Vaughn and other USTR officials met with a key House trade advisory group Tuesday to discuss negotiating objectives for NAFTA talks, but most members left the meeting still unsure when the administration intends to kick off negotiations with Canada and Mexico, and whether the future deal will be trilateral.
 
House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) said the meeting was “good” and that it allowed members of the House Advisory Group on Negotiations (HAGON) to “sort of explore” Ross’s views on Trump administration priorities for NAFTA talks, but Brady said he did not leave with a better idea of when renegotiations would begin.   
 
Ways & Means Trade subcommittee Chairman Dave Reichert (R-WA) gave a similar readout.
 
“They’re still working on it,” he told Inside U.S. Trade when asked if Ross or Vaughn provided new details about when the administration might formally notify Congress of its intent to renegotiate NAFTA. “We’re continuing to ask questions, and I think one of the keys here is to get [USTR nominee Robert] Lighthizer confirmed so I think that we can begin to see a little bit more movement. But I thought he answered all the questions and he’s prepared to hit the road running.”
 
Reichert added that consulting with HAGON is a condition laid out in the Trade Promotion Authority law that must be met before the administration can formally notify Congress on trade negotiations.
 
“[Meeting with] HAGON, that is one of the triggers where they provide the 90-day notice that they intend to move forward,” Reichert told Inside U.S. Trade. “I don’t know when that’s going to happen but this is one of those things that has to occur.”
 
The HAGON meeting was attended by Brady, Reichert, ranking member Richard Neal (D-MA), subcommittee ranking member Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) and the chairmen and ranking members of other relevant committees. Administration officials besides Ross and Vaughn included John Melle, assistant USTR for the western hemisphere, and the AUSTR for agricultural affairs, Sharon Bomer Lauritsen.
 
Brady said the trade advisory group was set up “to broaden and sort of muscle up the constitutional role of Congress.”
 
Neal told Inside U.S. Trade the meeting went “fine” but the administration and lawmakers “still did not nail down a date for when the formality of review will begin.”
 
“It’s a continuation of the ongoing discussions; they’re suggesting that these consultations will take us to that eventuality,” Neal said. “I think it’s fair to say that while we receive sort of the consistent message ‘it’s about to happen,’ that we did not get formal notification as to when precisely it will happen.”
 
Neal said Ross told Ways & Means members on March 16 that the administration would notify Congress by the end of March <https://insidetrade.com/node/158030> and that talks with Mexico should wrap up by the end of 2017. That time line was offered after Ross in February told lawmakers the administration would send the official notice around March 15 <https://insidetrade.com/node/157765>.
 
Neal said he pointed out in the March 21 meeting that “the window here of getting this done by the end of December was ambitious.”
 
A USTR official told Inside U.S. Trade the HAGON meeting was a step toward notifying Congress in the near future but noted that several other meetings have to take place before the notice can be sent.
 
“The administration is serious about moving towards submission of the 90-day notice and this meeting is furthering those consultations to prepare for the submission,” USTR Deputy Chief of Staff Payne Griffin said.
 
TPA Section 105(a)(1)(B) lays out that the president, “before and after submission of the notice,” must “consult regarding the negotiations with the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Finance of the Senate, such other committees of the House and Senate as the President deems appropriate, and the House Advisory Group on Negotiations and the Senate Advisory Group on Negotiations.”
 
Agriculture Committee ranking member Collin Peterson (D-MN) said the meeting was “boring” and that he did not get a sense of the administration’s objectives.
 
Transportation & Infrastructure Committee ranking member Peter DeFazio (D-OR), who also attended the meeting, told Inside U.S. Trade he was “impressed” with Ross’s familiarity with the issues and added that he thinks the administration will send the notification “soon.”
 
DeFazio said four areas of interest to him were discussed in the meeting: Mexican trucking, Buy America, Chapter 19, and foreign countries’ value-added tax systems that allow for rebates on exports -- which DeFazio claims put the U.S. at a competitive disadvantage.
 
DeFazio said Ross told him he shared his concerns about the tax system. Ross also said he was aware of the trucking issue “and seemed receptive to making some changes,” DeFazio added.
 
According to DeFazio, “a huge majority of Congress doesn't feel good about Mexican trucks and truck drivers” because “they don't meet our standards in the U.S.”
 
On Chapter 19, DeFazio said Ross “implied that that's something that's at the top of the list they think they can get done without putting it into the bigger negotiation,” handling it instead outside of NAFTA.
 
Neal said the various ranking members at the meeting “asked a lot of questions, and I think it’s fair to say that many of the questions were based on enforcement. That seemed to be where the conversation went.”
 
One source said the HAGON meeting fulfilled the Section 105(a)(1)(B) requirement of the TPA law, but noted that the administration has not scheduled a meeting with the Senate Advisory Group on Negotiations. Ross and Vaughn to date have also not talked about NAFTA with the Senate Finance Committee.    
 
Neal said he told the administration officials the Senate “is awaiting consultation,” and added that “there was no formal response to that.”
Another open question is whether the administration will move ahead with notifying Congress before Lighthizer is confirmed.
 
Neal said the administration officials “did not even get into that,” but Brady told Inside U.S. Trade before the meeting that the administration “acknowledges the U.S. trade rep will be the chief negotiator on trade agreements.”
 
Both Neal and Brady agreed that it was made clear that Ross was going to play a “significant role” on trade policy and that he would be involved in NAFTA talks.
 
Pascrell, however, said he got the impression that while Ross is holding meetings with lawmakers, the administration is waiting on notifying Congress until Lighthizer is in place.
 
“I think that they're waiting for him to be confirmed and I don't believe Ross wants to see himself in the middle of such negotiations,” Pascrell said. “I think they're stalling as to what would be an appropriate approach to NAFTA renegotiations. I don't think they have a clear path themselves. It's not as easy as they thought.”
 
Pascrell added that he asked Ross about his role in the talks last week, and said Ross responded: “Well, I'll be here until such time as they change their minds.”
 
Neal added that “at the moment it’s pretty clear to me that everything that relates to trade is coming from the Commerce secretary.”
 
And, he added, “in the absence of a confirmed USTR, it’s not whether it’s up to me or not, it’s just the way it is.” -- Jenny Leonard (jleonard at iwpnews.com <mailto:jleonard at iwpnews.com>) and Jack Caporal (jcaporal at iwpnews.com <mailto:jcaporal at iwpnews.com>)
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