[CTC] Democrats more optimistic on future of Trump's new NAFTA

Thu May 16 06:26:48 PDT 2019

Two articles below…

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/05/15/democrats-trump-new-nafta-1445243

Democrats more optimistic on future of Trump's new NAFTA
By Sabrina Rodriguez 
05/15/2019 04:16 PM EDT

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi <http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=13e0d0a29da02f9431e9f5451fc62b260367fb9fed65898a8bf14536b077a33c9d38c5fd632368e570db0cf50473edae> and Democratic leaders are increasingly optimistic they can get to a yes on the new North American trade pact after their latest sit-down with President Donald Trump's trade chief.

Pelosi and House Democratic leaders reiterated that they want to support the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, but first need the administration to address a host of issues, including enforcement of the deal's labor provisions.

While they have been repeatedly stressing their worries about the new pact for months, lawmakers said they now feel that U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer is making a concerted effort to address their concerns.

"The desire of the overwhelming majority of the Democratic caucus is to try to get to yes," Rep. Hakeem Jeffries <http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=13e0d0a29da02f94f99b37165f05dec73e3815117af64f5f621c0d2993de3f2908faeab0f94beec8ef024e24e1ddec66>, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, told POLITICO.

The White House has increased pressure on Congress to pass the deal before August recess. The president faces limited potential legislative victories in the coming months, and key constituents like farmers are getting hurt on other trade fights. Pelosi, for her part, has made clear she will not rush to put the deal to a vote until the necessary changes are made to get Democrats on board with the deal, and that could take a while.

Meanwhile, Trump is on the verge of appeasing concerned Republicans with a deal that would lift steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada and Mexico.

Democrats have demanded the Trump administration reopen the text of the deal to write in stronger language to enforce the deal's labor and environment standards. They've also expressed the need to take out language they say would lock in high prescription drug prices. But administration officials have repeatedly shut down the idea of reopening the deal. Canada and Mexico have also vocally opposed revisiting the text.

Last week, Lighthizer told members of the House's Progressive Caucus that their concerns could largely be addressed without changing language in the text, but it remains unclear if he could do that in a way that pleases Pelosi.

House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal <http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=13e0d0a29da02f949a9dd61446c9dbcb27191df39e283c71e6f4fb9cdc6ce9ddd165460e24c56ab548102a5733f0a7c4> (D-Mass.) said lawmakers "made a series of suggestions" in the 45-minute meeting on how to address the prevailing Democratic concerns. And Lighthizer is being more clear he wants to find solutions that please Democrats, aides said.

The meeting felt much more productive than previous meetings with Lighthizer, as the U.S. trade chief appeared to be engaging much more closely with lawmakers about how to address their concerns, Democratic aides in the room said.

However, Neal and other Democrats were quick to caution that the Trump administration still has not taken any actions or made any specific changes to address their concerns.

"We also think that there's a ways to go," Neal told reporters. 

A Pelosi aide told POLITICO that Democrats will be planning more discussions with Lighthizer on "key questions about the USMCA proposal."

Lighthizer did not "speak one way or the other about the mechanics of reopening the text," Jeffries said, adding that a timeline for passage was not discussed.

It also remains an open question whether Lighthizer will be able to deliver on a deal that satisfies Democrats within the Trump administration's target window. The final text of the agreement and implementing legislation still has not been submitted to Congress.

"We're on a path," said House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn <http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=13e0d0a29da02f9464d0a552719b7b74293b09c5618091e6fd878dc19944596c127e5017716112320bd35b86643bf7f2> (D-S.C.). "We're not on the end of the road."

INSIDE US TRADE
Neal: Plenty of ‘goodwill’ in USTR meeting, ‘ways to go’ on USMCA proposals
May 15, 2019 at 3:23 PM

After a Wednesday meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, House Ways & Means Chairman Richard Neal (D-MA) praised the “goodwill in the room” but said USTR’s proposal to address Democrats’ concerns with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement still had a “ways to go.”

Lighthizer met with Neal, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and other congressional leaders.

“I thought it was good,” Neal told Inside U.S. Trade. “I thought there was a lot of goodwill in the room. The question now is ‘Can we continue to refine our thinking?’ We know what the outstanding issues are and I think now as we proceed to specificity in trying to improve the proposal that we really need to zero in on these differences.”

Neal, joined by other Ways & Means Democrats, recently sent Lighthizer five letters <https://insidetrade.com/node/166297> previewing the caucus’ concerns with USMCA’s enforcement, biologics, environment and labor language.

Asked if Lighthizer presented solutions for each of the four areas Democrats say are most in need of changes, Neal said “he has -- but we think there is some ways to go on it.”

As for whether Lighthizer provided area-specific details, Neal said “he attempted to.”

“And I thought he did it with clarity, yes,” the lawmaker said.

Pelosi and several other Democrats have called for changes to the text of USMCA itself, which could require re-opening talks with Canada and Mexico. Others, however, have questioned whether sufficient changes can be made in other ways given opposition to re-opening the deal from all three North American governments.

Asked if that concern was addressed during the meeting with Lighthizer, Neal said, “We all have the experience about what some of the side agreements have meant over the decades and the side agreements are really hard to enforce.”

Congressional aides have told Inside U.S. Trade that the Trump administration has maintained that it will not re-open the deal but will work instead to address lawmakers' concerns via implementing legislation and other documents needed for ratification.

One source said the administration was aiming to submit its statement of administrative action by Memorial Day, May 27. The statement must be sent to Capitol Hill 30 days before the introduction of implementing legislation, according to the 2015 Trade Promotion Authority law.

But another outstanding issue for the parties to address -- steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada and Mexico -- remains unresolved. Canadian Foreign Affairs Secretary Chrystia Freeland met with Lighthizer on Wednesday before he headed to the meeting with Democrats.

Before the meeting, a source said the U.S. planned to push for “flexible” tariff-rate quotas <https://insidetrade.com/node/166387> that might not be characterized as such because both Canada and Mexico have called for the removal of tariffs without replacing them with quotas or other distortive restrictions.

Neal said while there was no “real” Section 232 conversation during Wednesday’s meeting, “I think flexibility is the better description.”

House Ways & Means trade subcommittee ranking member Vern Buchanan (R-FL) called the Section 232 situation “very fluid.”

“I’ve got to talk to Bob -- the whole thing is we are trying to get a final [USMCA] document … we are pretty close but obviously we need the feedback from the Democrats as well,” Buchanan told Inside U.S. Trade.

Rep. Mike Bost (R-IL), co-chair of the Congressional Steel Caucus, said several U.S. lawmakers met with members of the Canadian Parliament last week to discuss the Section 232 issue.

Canada is not in agreement with tariffs or quotas, he said. “The problem is they want the tariffs off but they say quotas are a non-starter, but we will see,” he said. “This is when they were here last week."

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told a Senate subcommittee on Wednesday that “I think we are close to an understanding with Canada and Mexico” on the 232 tariffs. -- Isabelle Hoagland (ihoagland at iwpnews.com <mailto:ihoagland at iwpnews.com>)
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