[CTC] With steel, aluminum tariffs lifted, Democrats remain cautious on NAFTA

Wed May 22 06:55:22 PDT 2019

With steel, aluminum tariffs lifted, Democrats remain cautious on USMCA 
INSIDE US TRADE, 05/21/2019

As U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer continues to meet with Democrats to push for the ratification of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, many maintain that the removal of the Section 232 tariffs on Canada and Mexico was merely a step in a larger process toward moving the deal to a vote -- a process that could involve small groups of lawmakers to deal with the most pressing issues.

Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-WA), a member of the House Ways & Means trade subcommittee, said Friday’s move to lift the steel and aluminum restrictions was welcome, “but there are still other issues -- specifically around enforcement -- that need to be clarified and addressed for members.”

Rep. Rick Larsen (D-WA) suggested the caucus is exploring the use of focus groups to home in on specific areas of concern and identify ways to work with USTR in a more effective way.

On Monday, Lighthizer met with leadership of the New Democrat Coalition, a pro-trade bloc seen as critical for USMCA's approval. Members of the coalition’s trade task force also participated in the meeting, according to DelBene, who is a vice chair of the coalition. The trade task force is helmed by Reps. Ron Kind (WI), Rick Larsen (WA), Greg Meeks (NY) and Lizzie Fletcher (TX), while Reps. Don Beyer (VA), Susan Davis (CA), Veronica Escobar (TX), Stephanie Murphy (FL) and Terri Sewell (AL) are members.

Key Democrats including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (CA) and Richard Neal (MA) have outlined four areas of USMCA -- labor, environment, biologics and enforcement -- they say are in need of changes. The trade representative met last week with Congressional leaders, including Pelosi and Neal, to offer area-specific solutions.

But DelBene said she left Monday’s meeting with little clarity on how the Trump administration planned to address the caucus’ concerns. “He talked about addressing them but not about re-opening the agreement,” she told Inside U.S. Trade. “I think we are waiting to see what his specific answers are with respect to how we address some of these issues in a way that addresses members’ concerns -- I think that is really the key next step.”

Larsen said Lighthizer endorsed the creation of area-specific focus groups in the House to facilitate engagement on Democrats’ concerns.

“He prefers that the Democrats assign small groups to each of our problem areas to worth with USTR to address those concerns so that we are not playing a game of whack-a-mole,” Larsen told Inside U.S. Trade.

Rather than “trying to address 234 separate members on the same four issues over and over again,” Larsen said, USTR might prefer “having small groups of members who are maybe assigned by our leadership to work through enforcement, labor, environment and biologics.”

“I think it’s fair to try to figure out a way to address the issues that Democrats have by paring down how many folks Lighthizer has to work through.,” he continued, adding, “However the Democratic leadership wants to handle it is up to them and I would be supportive.”

On the removal of Section 232 tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports, Larsen said Lighthizer “rightfully recognizes that the 232 tariff issue was important -- it was necessary but it wasn’t sufficient.”

Monday’s meeting, Larsen continued, was about “checking in with the New Dems on how we feel about the tariffs being lifted and walking through the outstanding concerns that we have with those issues.” Asked whether USTR pitched area-specific solutions, Larsen said “he did not, but I don’t think that was his purpose.”

“He understands that to get this thing to pass, it has to have a lot of Democratic votes, and he wants to continue to work with Democrats to make that happen,” Larsen added.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said she spoke with Lighthizer last week -- and while progress has been made, “we are not there yet."

“This has got to be reopened as it has been in the past,” DeLauro told Inside U.S. Trade, adding it can be “opened in very specific areas. There is precedent for that.” But DeLauro said she hadn’t seen anything concrete from Lighthizer on ways to move forward. “He listened, he keeps hearing us over and over again,” she said.

Lighthizer also met with Rep. Dan Kildee (D-MI), a member of the progressive group and the House Ways & Means trade subcommittee, last week.

On the other side of the aisle, Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ), another member of the House Ways & Means trade subcommittee and part of the House Republicans' USMCA “whip team,” said Republicans on the panel were meeting internally on Tuesday to map out a path forward and plot how to reach out to Democrats.

“Many of us who are on the whip team are trying to reach out to some of our Democratic brothers and sisters and see what the inbound is,” he told Inside U.S. Trade. “We are still sort of counting attitudes.”

“As long as there is a sense that we are actually answering questions that are real questions and it’s not sort of this evolving excuse not to participate,” he added, “will see also if movement on the steel and aluminum tariffs seems to actually lessen some frustrations in manufacturing districts. It’s inch by inch. My fear is that this will be something we inch up to and then boom … things may start to move very, very quickly. Our job right now is trying to listen to members. It’s almost vote-counting at this point.”

Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-IN), a member of the House Ways & Means Committee and the GOP whip team, told Inside U.S. Trade the removal of the steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada and Mexico was just what the deal needed.

“Now it’s like 'let’s get every single person to vote for it.' … I’m talking to everybody that I possibly can to get everybody on the same page to bring it down. That is the answer to our farmers right now, to agriculture; that is the answer to manufacturing. It opens the door now to getting this to the floor and getting this done before August.

“Everything in August gets destroyed,” she added.
Arthur Stamoulis
Citizens Trade Campaign
(202) 494-8826

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