[CTC] NAFTA working group member says Lighthizer appears open to changes

Wed Jun 26 06:27:25 PDT 2019

USMCA working group member says Lighthizer appears open to changes
Inside US Trade
June 25, 2019 at 7:20 PM

After meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on Tuesday, the leader of a House task force on the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement’s biologics provisions said the USTR appeared open to making changes to the deal.

A USMCA working group and Lighthizer are tasked with finding solutions to the issues Democrats have raised with USMCA. They met for the first time on Tuesday.
One major concern is a provision in the deal that would require parties to have a data exclusivity period for biologic drugs of at least 10 years. The current exclusivity period in the U.S. is 12 years, while in Mexico it’s five years and in Canada it’s eight.

The leader of the working group's task force on biologics, Rep. Jan Schakowsky <> (D-IL), who contends the biologics provision in the text of the agreement must be removed entirely, said after the meeting that she expected to “see some changes in the deal.” <>

The Trump administration, Mexico and Canada have said they do not want to re-open discussions on the deal's text. Mexico has already ratified USMCA.

Schakowsky declined to provide further details on the meeting because, she said, Democrats are “in a negotiation with him as well.”

“It's going to take some serious work but he's definitely open to the conversation so we're going to proceed,” she added.

Schakowsky has introduced legislation to lower the U.S. biologics exclusivity period to five years. Before Tuesday's meeting, she told Inside U.S. Trade she intended to “make clear” to Lighthizer that her legislation has “broad support, and to do something that memorializes 10 or 12 [years] is not timely and he should not do that."

“Our ask at this first meeting with him: Take out biologics altogether," Schakowsky said.

Schakowsky noted that Lighthizer has said he doesn’t want to include anything in a USMCA implementing bill that would interfere with U.S. law. If her bill is approved and USMCA is ratified with the biologics provision remaining, however, Schakowsky said the trade deal “could absolutely” supersede domestic law.

“So one of the arguments I want to make to him is that this is an issue in flux. This is really -- as far as the American people are concerned, as far as the Democratic majority is concerned -- this 12-year exclusivity being debated right now is in flux,” Schakowsky said.

Former President Obama, in multiple budget requests, proposed <https://insidetrade.com/node/152509> lowering the U.S. exclusivity period for biologics to seven years, but Congress never passed legislation to that effect. Schakowsky and some Senate colleagues have introduced bipartisan legislation <https://insidetrade.com/node/154914> that would lower the U.S. exclusivity period to seven years, but the bills have never reached the floor in their respective chambers.

Lighthizer in March asserted <https://insidetrade.com/node/166127> nothing in USMCA would lead to higher drug prices.

Schakowsky said USMCA working group members have been meeting “on a weekly basis” with Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), who is in charge of handling enforcement issues along with Rep. Terri Sewell (D-AL).

Many Democrats believe “the pharma provision has no business being in a trade agreement,” DeLauro said at a Capitol Hill event on Tuesday before the meeting with Lighthizer, adding that “we want it out."

“USMCA signs in monopoly rights for big pharma. It is a gift for the pharmaceutical industry, in particular for the companies that produce biologics,” DeLauro said, contending that keeping the biologics provision in the deal would prevent Congress from being able to lower the “skyrocketing” prices of prescription drugs in the future.

DeLauro insisted again on Tuesday that key changes must be made to the text, not in a side agreement or in implementing legislation, so they have the “full force of the law.”
Trump administration officials and Republicans on Capitol Hill have said they hope to see USMCA ratified before Congress leaves for recess in August and before the 2020 presidential election season ramps up. The earliest USMCA implementing legislation can be sent to Congress is July 9, per Trade Promotion Authority rules.

Schakowsky she “didn't really feel that” Lighthizer was in a rush to get USMCA approved, but added that her “sense is they're more in a rush than we are.”

The next working group meeting has not been scheduled yet, Schakowski said, calling Lighthizer “pretty accessible.” -- Maria Curi (mcuri at iwpnews.com <mailto:mcuri at iwpnews.com>)

House Democrats, Lighthizer launch talks on USMCA
By Sabrina Rodriguez
06/25/2019 06:51 PM EDT

House Democrats tasked with making changes to the new North American trade pact say they'll meet frequently with President Donald Trump's trade chief.

Nine Democrats tapped by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi <http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=5be6b3f8d3e86088ecf4c3e4af4a22bae5ba63bc6f7407e7fb0368889c6c6a5fdbbfc7f166ba0b6cd33aca8178ec302c> to serve on a working group met with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on Tuesday afternoon for their first meeting. Democrats are pushing for changes to the U.S.-Mexico Canada Agreement related to enforcement, labor and environmental standards and drug pricing. 

"We are for sure going to talk weekly," House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal <http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=5be6b3f8d3e860882245cf18aa592afb0f8eb3150bc72ad7bd7d5989a0e19c191d70b3a6a8bf166165bc8216ad13ee7c> (D-Mass.) told POLITICO. "That's a sure bet."

Neal, head of the working group, said Tuesday's meeting was "very, very helpful" and "constructive."

The House is scheduled to be in session only 14 legislative days before the August recess. The Trump administration has said it wants to get USMCA passed before the long summer break so the deal doesn't get caught up in 2020 campaign politics. But Democrats have repeatedly said they won't take it up until their concerns are addressed.

"My sense is they're more in a rush than we are," Rep. Jan Schakowsky <http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=5be6b3f8d3e860884cb24f72848ca2ff87a9d0584ba74ec00a468303320572cc5f09a85b8af2c5e789401037c9e78e7f> (D-Ill.) said as she left the hourlong meeting. 

Schakowsky and Neal both expressed appreciation for Lighthizer's availability and willingness to work through the issues. He has spent significant time on the Hill to court them on the deal.

"It's going to take some serious work," Schakowsky said, though she was optimistic: "I think we're going to see some changes in the deal."

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/20190626/a74dc511/attachment.html>