U.S. Senate approves new version of North American free trade agreement
WASHINGTON — The Republican-led United States Senate finally passed North America’s long-delayed new free trade pact Thursday, its final piece of legislative business before it transforms into a high political court of sorts for the impeachment of President Donald Trump.
After passing the Democratcontrolled House of Representatives last month, the so-called implementation bill — the nuts and bolts of precisely how the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement will be executed, followed and enforced — cruised through the Senate by a margin of 89-10.
Short of the president’s signature, which is expected as early as next week, the focus now shifts back to Canada.
The federal Liberal government has been waiting for legislative progress on the U.S. front before introducing its own implementation bill. Mexico ratified the deal back in June.
Officials in the Prime Minister’s Office say they expect the agreement to be high on the government’s agenda when Parliament resumes Jan. 27, and that the Canadian legislation is ready and waiting to be introduced in the House of Commons.
Despite the impending impeachment trial casting long shadows on Capitol Hill, Thursday’s vote marked a longsought win for Trump’s trade agenda, his second in as many days. On Wednesday, he signed the first phase of what he’s billed as a two-part comprehensive trade agreement with China, with Phase 2 not expected until after the November election.
Trump’s long-standing promise to improve on the existing North American Free Trade Agreement was a major cornerstone of his 2016 election win, particularly in parts of the country where farmers and blue-collar workers have blamed their economic struggles on the relentless march of global trade and the exodus of manufacturing jobs to China and Mexico.
“Quite a week of substantive accomplishments for the nation, for the president and for our international trade,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said prior to the vote.
Not everyone supports the USMCA, however: Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York and independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sander voted against it, both of them citing the fact the deal does nothing to address climate change.
That’s despite a concerted effort by congressional Democrats led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to negotiate an implementation bill that would be more palatable to more progressive lawmakers, including significant changes to how the agreement’s stringent new labour standards are enforced.
The new trade era could come into force in either early May or June, depending on precisely when Canada approves it, said Dan Ujczo, an international trade lawyer and U.S.-Canada expert with Dickinson Wright in Columbus, Ohio.
“Our guidance to companies remains the same: USMCA is real; it is not a rebrand but a renovation of North American trade; and the time is now to focus on impacts,” Ujczo said. “If there is any confusion that this is the same old NAFTA, keep in mind Democrats are overwhelmingly supporting this deal while impeaching the president. Clearly, there are differences in USMCA that have got these Democrats on board and those largely are not tradefriendly changes.”