Tornado Alley (PROG)

[fuagf]

So Nancy, after hard bargaining against Trump's sloppy initial NAFTA revamp,

Senate passes USMCA, but much work remains

It’ll take years of costly work before American workers and businesses begin to benefit from the new trade pact with Mexico and Canada.

By SABRINA RODRIGUEZ
01/16/2020 11:51 AM EST
Updated: 01/16/2020 01:34 PM EST

[...]

Some Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sens. Kamala Harris of California, Cory Booker of New Jersey and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, voted against the pact for not doing enough to protect American jobs or address environmental issues.

"Despite the fact that it includes very good labor provisions, I am voting against USMCA because it does not address climate change, the greatest threat facing the planet," Schumer said.

[...]

Many Democrats — and surprisingly, many labor unions — ultimately got on board after securing changes that make the USMCA one of the most progressive trade agreements ever negotiated .. https://www.politico.com/news/2019/12/10/labor-unions-drug-companies-trade-deal-081230 .. by either party.

Democrats worked into the deal stronger labor enforcement provisions that will help ensure companies operating in Mexico boost workers' rights and give the U.S. the power to punish them if they violate labor rights.

Some of the top labor changes that won over Democrats include provisions that will allow the U.S. to file complaints against Mexican factories suspected of violating workers’ union rights. The revised USMCA would allow the U.S. to be part of a multinational team that verifies whether factories are complying and can penalize them if they do not.

Mexico had to make significant concessions in order to land the deal — and that meant a series of intense and often heated talks with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.

[...]

The final deal was the product of almost six months of negotiations between the Trump administration and House Democrats to address prevailing Democratic concerns on the pact’s enforcement, environment, labor and pharmaceutical provisions.

Democrats succeeded in getting the Trump administration to drop a provision establishing a 10-year protection period for biologic drugs, which opponents say would have allowed drug companies to keep prices high. That change left some Republicans and business groups disappointed, but not enough to withdraw support for the deal.

Still, the deal is not expected to significantly increase trade within the region. The original NAFTA, which Trump has long regarded as the “worst trade deal ever made,” already eliminated most tariffs between the U.S., Mexico and Canada.

“It’s a modest upgrade from what we had before, but of course, Trump is overstating the deal. And he’s going to get away with overstating because Democrats want to oversell it on how they got all these improvements,” said Bill Reinsch, a trade expert with the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“Everybody is overselling it,” Reinsch added.

The USMCA, which Trump has called “the best and most important trade deal ever made by the USA,” would raise U.S. GDP by $68.2 billion, or 0.35 percent, by the sixth year after it enters into force, according to the independent U.S. International Trade Commission.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/01/16/senate-passes-usmca-in-major-win-for-trump-099744

delivered USMCA for him, now a coronavirus response plan. Go Democrats!