<div dir="auto"><p style="margin-right:0in;margin-left:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman",serif"><a href="https://thehill.com/policy/finance/424604-senate-chairman-trump-should-back-out-of-nafta-if-dems-block-new-trade-deal" style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(66,133,244)">https://thehill.com/policy/finance/424604-senate-chairman-trump-should-back-out-of-nafta-if-dems-block-new-trade-deal</a><br></p><p style="margin-right:0in;margin-left:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman",serif"><span style="font-size:12pt">Grassley: Trump should leave NAFTA if Dems block new trade deal<u></u><u></u></span></p><p style="margin-right:0in;margin-left:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman",serif"><span style="font-size:12pt">By: Sylvan Lane   </span></p><p style="margin-right:0in;margin-left:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman",serif"><span style="font-size:12pt">1/09/2019</span></p><p style="margin-right:0in;margin-left:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman",serif"><span style="font-size:12pt">Sen. <a href="https://thehill.com/people/chuck-grassley" style="text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(66,133,244)"><span style="color:blue">Chuck Grassley</span></a> (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.<u></u><u></u></span></p><p style="margin-right:0in;margin-left:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman",serif"><span style="font-size:12pt">"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.<u></u><u></u></span></p><p style="margin-right:0in;margin-left:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman",serif"><span style="font-size:12pt">“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."<u></u><u></u></span></p><p style="margin-right:0in;margin-left:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman",serif"><span style="font-size:12pt">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.<u></u><u></u></span></p><p style="margin-right:0in;margin-left:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman",serif"><span style="font-size:12pt">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.<u></u><u></u></span></p><p style="margin-right:0in;margin-left:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman",serif"><span style="font-size:12pt">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.<u></u><u></u></span></p><p style="margin-right:0in;margin-left:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman",serif"><span style="font-size:12pt">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.<u></u><u></u></span></p><p style="margin-right:0in;margin-left:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman",serif"><span style="font-size:12pt">Grassley has been <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/finance/396454-grassley-trump-tariffs-on-china-have-been-very-detrimental-to-iowa" style="text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(66,133,244)"><span style="color:blue">critical of Trump’s trade agenda</span></a>, citing the high toll of retaliatory agricultural tariffs on farmers and livestock producers in his home state.<u></u><u></u></span></p><p style="margin-right:0in;margin-left:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman",serif"><span style="font-size:12pt">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.<u></u><u></u></span></p><p style="margin-right:0in;margin-left:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman",serif"><span style="font-size:12pt">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.<u></u><u></u></span></p><p style="margin-right:0in;margin-left:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman",serif"><i><span style="font-size:12pt">Naomi Jagoda contributed.</span></i></p><br><div data-smartmail="gmail_signature">Arthur Stamoulis<br>Citizens Trade Campaign <br>(202) 494-8826</div></div>