Senate Republicans expect USMCA vote Thursday

Canada’s hard-won continental trade deal with the United States and Mexico could be up for a vote in the U.S. Senate before the end of the week, thanks to the emerging timelines for the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump.

Republicans controlling the Senate say they expect the implementation bill for the U.S.Mexico-Canada Agreement to be voted on as early as Thursday as they clear the decks of legislative business before next week’s impeachment trial gets underway.

And they anticipate sweeping bipartisan support in replacing the 25-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement, which Trump and many lawmakers have long blamed for shipping U.S. manufacturing jobs to Mexico.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, RKy., announced the vote at his weekly news conference Tuesday.

“We are, it looks like, going to be able to process the USMCA here in the Senate this week,” McConnell said.