[CTC] The NAFTA waiting game continues

Wed Sep 4 07:52:38 PDT 2019

POLITICO Morning Trade

— Despite months of back-and-forth, House Democrats are still waiting on U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to formally respond to their top concerns with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

THE USMCA WAITING GAME CONTINUES: When lawmakers left Washington in late July to finish out the summer in their districts, the expectation among many on Capitol Hill was that the quieter weeks would provide ample opportunity for USTR and congressional staffers to make progress on the USMCA. But with less than a week until the House is back in session, members of the USMCA working group are still waiting for the U.S. trade office to send back any formal text or counterproposals on the four major issues they have identified, several sources close to the process told Morning Trade.

That's despite repeated requests from working group staff to send text specifically related to Democrats' top four concerns with the new North American deal: labor standards, environmental provisions, enforcement and access to medicines, one of the sources said.

"The ball is in USTR's court right now," another source said.

There are still some signs, though, that the deal could be inching closer toward approval. Deputy U.S. Trade Representative C.J. Mahoney met multiple times with working group staff over the break to discuss those four issues, three sources said. USTR did not respond to a request for comment on the status of its talks with the USMCA working group, but Senate Finance Chairman Chuck Grassley <http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=394073cd964d0b0f55532ef4f38df716ef8dc87685b776561cefa72cd010898b9607f813145dc81fe185dbde60c884aa> (R-Iowa) told reporters on Tuesday <http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b2dc403370a6c630600efb6f5f2caa7424773338fa6e5f1306190171b47d89abece8f68dc6754e10bf5dfa6b72a2855f> that Lighthizer expects to see progress this month on the deal.

The Iowa Republican said he spoke on Friday with Lighthizer, who "expects September to be the big month of working everything out with the House of Representatives to satisfy the Democrats and even hopefully get labor unions on board."

HOUSE DEM LEADERSHIP HOSTS A TRADE CALL: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi  <http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d6ed98d91aae3e0b96c924ca4a4eee338f92728da22027637a9545009b0bc2cbf755da4820d84cfae2c3ac54ae741a2d>and other top House Democrats hosted a call late Tuesday afternoon in part to update the full Democratic caucus on where things currently stand with the USMCA. House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal <http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4666ff5146716e4207dcfb20196f667f4538de26295d1b9bf390160b4977ce8ca1897faa348de4734a308f1d65451e6b> (D-Mass.) told members that while the working group was making meaningful progress, the deal is "still not ready for approval," according to one source briefed on the call.

The Massachusetts Democrat, who chairs the USMCA working group, also said on the call that he hopes USTR will hand over concrete proposals for members to review in the coming weeks, the source said. Another source added that Neal said he expects the pace of negotiations to increase in September. 

Others Democrats are less bullish. Rep. Rosa DeLauro  <http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=da396637a968b6352371d9de55b67d06c284567e754cc0e9d63535368533c122971badb62627be28fc1461427a7b5f7a>(D-Conn.), a member of the working group and longtime opponent of major trade deals, told her home-state newspaper the Connecticut Mirror <http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=68c30055b956c81dcc6ef88f622d6d9cf9fe39eef53db49d52605ae1438d2c53207cf5a9e59e001c62135571747c2979> that approval of the agreement is likely to "seep into next year."

PAGING CANADA: <http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=1301cbf49b4dc4c458c5d8deef27bbe9ce7782b00b380f92a84121fc2cf557b16c84f1fad0a0651ba4479fc54d2c18cc> Pelosi also spoke about the deal Tuesday afternoon with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. A readout from the prime minister's office said the pair "discussed progress" on the new NAFTA and "welcomed ongoing work toward its ratification."

Arthur Stamoulis
Citizens Trade Campaign
(202) 494-8826

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