[CTC] Grassley: Trump should leave NAFTA if Dems block new trade deal

[Arthur Stamoulis]

https://thehill.com/policy/finance/424604-senate-chairman-trump-should-back-out-of-nafta-if-dems-block-new-trade-deal

Grassley: Trump should leave NAFTA if Dems block new trade deal

By: Sylvan Lane

1/09/2019

Sen. Chuck Grassley <https://thehill.com/people/chuck-grassley> (R-Iowa)
says he would “encourage the president to back out of" the North American
Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) if Democrats reject the administration’s
rewrite of the trade deal with Mexico and Canada.

"If they're reaching the point where we've got to go back to the
negotiating table, I would encourage the president to pull out of NAFTA and
hope that they're smart enough not to let that happen,” Grassley, the
chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said Wednesday.

“Why would you want to go back to an environment where there's higher
tariffs on our products sent to Mexico then them getting their products
into this country?,” Grassley added. “It just doesn't meet the common sense
test."

Trump in October struck a deal for the U.S., Mexico, Canada Trade Agreement
(USMCA), a renegotiated NAFTA. But the new agreement must be ratified by
the legislatures of all three countries. While Canada and Mexico are
expected to approve the USMCA, some congressional Democrats say its
provisions on environmental and labor protections are too weak to earn
their support.

Trump has threatened to pull out of NAFTA if Democrats oppose the USMCA,
threatening the opposition with a choice between his deal or no deal at all.

Grassley will play a crucial role in clearing the deal as chief of the
Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over trade issues. The
chairman said he’d meet with Democrats skeptical of the deal but would
support Trump playing hardball.

Trump’s threat to pull out of NAFTA has alarmed some congressional
Republicans. Most of his party is also opposed to the president’s tariffs
on steel and aluminum.

Grassley has been critical of Trump’s trade agenda
<https://thehill.com/policy/finance/396454-grassley-trump-tariffs-on-china-have-been-very-detrimental-to-iowa>,
citing the high toll of retaliatory agricultural tariffs on farmers and
livestock producers in his home state.

Trump reportedly plans to call on Congress to give him more control over
tariffs in his State of the Union address later this month. But Grassley
shot down those demands.

Grassley is the longest-tenured Republican senator and was recently
selected to lead the Finance Committee after chairing the Senate Judiciary
Committee from 2015 to 2018.

*Naomi Jagoda contributed.*

Arthur Stamoulis
Citizens Trade Campaign
(202) 494-8826
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.citizenstrade.org/pipermail/ctcfield-citizenstrade.org/attachments/20190109/feb8e5c8/attachment.html>