The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Amid impeachment, Conn. lawmakers push trade deal
WASHINGTON — Despite an impeachment standoff between the White House and Democrats, negotiations are advancing between the administration and House lawmakers on a trade agreement with significant implications for Connecticut’s $2.9 billion in exports to Canada and Mexico.
The U.S.MexicoCanada Agreement, or USMCA, is a key focus of House Democrats as they try to prove to voters they can still legislate and govern while investigating the president. After nearly 11 months of negotiations, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last week said Democrats were “on a path to yes” for approving the trade deal that will replace the 1993 North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA.
“Democrats’ zeal to fix NAFTA outweighs their dislike for (President Donald) Trump,” said Lori Wallach, director of the leftleaning Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch.
Connecticut has an outsize voice in shaping USMCA. U.S. Reps. Rosa DeLauro, DNew Haven, and John Larson, DEast Hartford are two of the nine members of the House task force responsible for negotiating an agreement with the administration. The administration hammered out the compact with Canada and Mexico, but Trump needs to win lawmakers’ approval of the accord before it can take effect.
That challenge has sparked months of meetings and document swaps. The task force has met with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer several times since the Democrats’ impeachment inquiry began nearly three weeks ago, DeLauro said in an interview. Some members of the task force went to Mexico this past week to meet with the president of Mexico regarding a deal.
U.S. Chamber of Commerce executive vice president Neil Bradley, a vocal advocate for getting USMCA done, told Axios reporters he thinks the trade deal will be passed by Thanksgiving.
But both Larson and DeLauro said they’re not ready for a handshake yet.
In September, DeLauro predicted the negotiations could “seep into next year.” But this week, she refused to predict an end date for negotiations, saying only “When the substance is right, we will move. And we’re not there yet.”
Democrats see a few problems in the sweeping USMCA, a trade document that touches on everything from agriculture to the digital economy to manufacturing to financial services. They want Mexico to be held to higher labor standards, including wages, worried about the outsourcing of American jobs. They want to cut out provisions that they think reduce competition for pharmaceutical companies — especially for a drug category called Biologics.
Red states and their lawmakers have been clamoring for House Democrats to approve the agreement for months. The document contains an important concession from Canada expected to help American dairy farmers, as well as another measure expected to help U.S. wheat sales, said Gabriella BeaumontSmith, a policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation. Both are wins for Midwest farmers in Republican areas, where the tariff trade war with China has pinched.
But Democrats believe in their strategy of holding out for changes — for political reasons, as well as policy ones.
If their negotiations succeed, Democrats are likely to tout their changes, alongside legislation on healthcare stalled in the House in the 2020 elections.
But some activists in favor of USMCA revisions are worried that the Democratic effort could blow up if Trump, besieged by Democrats’ impeachment inquiry, interferes in the negotiations to shift the public’s attention away from his alleged misconduct with Ukraine.
“That’s a big X factor,” said Wallach.
DeLauro said she never knows what Trump will do.
Although to a lesser extent than some states, jobs and businesses in Connecticut will be impacted by the USMCA’s approval — or demise. Trade with Canada and Mexico supports 145,100 jobs in Connecticut, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said.
Connecticut’s top exports to Canada include aircraft, space craft, nuclear reactors and electrical machinery, the Chamber said. That’s thanks to large manufacturers like United Technology Company, which has operations in Farmington, Windsor Locks and East Hartford.
Connecticut’s top exports to Mexico are inorganic chemicals, rareearth metals, boilers, electrical machinery and parts, the Chamber said.