Senate passes trade pact
NAFTA replacement covers Mexico, Canada
WASHINGTON – A revamped trade agreement with Mexico and Canada designed to create hundreds of thousands of U.S. jobs is headed to President Donald Trump for his signature after the Senate passed the deal Thursday.
The vote to approve the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, was an overwhelming 89-10. It’s a major rewrite of rules for trade with the nation’s neighbors and closest trading partners relating to agriculture, manufacturing and services.
The bill garnered the same kind of broad bipartisan support the trade measure received when USMCA passed the House last month by a 385-41 vote.
The agreement will benefit all corners of the U.S. economy, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on the Senate floor Thursday before the vote.
“Farmers. Growers. Cattlemen. Manufacturers. Small businesses. Big Businesses,” the Kentucky Republican said. “This is a major step for our whole country.”
The agreement will replace rules for moving products among the three countries crafted under the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, which essentially eliminated tariffs on most goods traded among the three countries.
Trump and the leaders of both parties strongly support the measure, proving that Congress can unite when it wants to even during the bitter partisan division over impeachment.
Trump relentlessly ridiculed NAFTA as the “worst trade deal ever” when he was running for president, arguing it put American workers at a competitive disadvantage. Other critics, including Democrats, conceded NAFTA was outdated and needed to be revised.
Most Republicans, led by farm state and industrial belt lawmakers, supported it because of expanded trading opportunities championed by Trump. Democrats who didn’t like the initial proposal got behind it after changes were made to beef up enforcement of labor standards, such as requiring the inspection of Mexican factories and the closing of loopholes that have hampered prosecution of labor violations.
“This new trade deal is a modest improvement,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, DMass., said during a presidential debate in Iowa Tuesday night. “It will give some relief to our farmers. It will give some relief to our workers. I believe we accept that relief ... and we get up the next day and fight for a better trade deal.
Some unions said the deal doesn’t go far enough to protect worker rights. The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union said USMCA fails to require strong country-of-origin labeling needed to strengthen food safety and invest in the millions of American jobs that produce our food.
“Farmers. Growers . ... Big Businesses ... This is a major step for our whole country.” Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.