US-Mexico-Canada trade deal signed after political breakthrough
- Revised version of USMCA ‘infinitely better’, Nancy Pelosi says, announcing agreement between Democrats and White House
- Lawmakers in Washington, Ottawa and Mexico City expected to ratify Nafta replacement in coming days or weeks
Representatives of the US, Mexico and Canada signed a revised trade deal on Tuesday soon after Democratic lawmakers said they would support the modified agreement.
The United States – Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) was signed more than a year ago by the leaders of the three countries, but passage has been delayed in the US Congress by Democratic leaders who said the agreement was lacking in environmental and labour protections.
Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the US House of Representatives, said a new revised version of the USMCA, which is seen as an update to the 25-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta), was “infinitely better” than what was approved by the Trump administration over a year ago.
The revised agreement is now expected to be ratified by lawmakers in Ottawa, Mexico City, and Washington in the coming days or weeks.
Mexican President Manuel Lopez Obrador described it as an “important” and “intense” day at a signing ceremony in Mexico City, attended by US trade negotiator Robert Lighthizer and Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland.
“We are reaching this agreement that we consider fundamental, a good agreement for the three peoples, for the three nations, for the three governments,” the Mexican president said.
According to Alvaro Santos, a former trade negotiator for the Mexican government, the new agreement will strengthen collective bargaining rights for Mexican workers and lessen the ability of private interests bring lawsuits against the deal's environmental regulations.
The USMCA will also “incentivise production in North America and, particularly, in the US”, said Santos, a trade expert at Georgetown Law in Washington.
US and Canada reach last-minute deal to save Nafta, rename it USMCA
Democrats said they were able to win stronger environmental and labour standards that would benefit US workers and a requirement of a higher minimum wage in Mexico, according to US officials who joined Pelosi at a news conference to announce the deal.
Chrystia Freeland, Canada's deputy prime minister, said the agreement will ensure “that rules-based trade between our three countries will continue to support the economic prosperity of all our people and the global competitiveness of North America as a region”.
She added that the negotiation, which started in 2017, “has been an existential challenge for our country, and at times and existential drama”.
Trump has been calling on Democrats to support the deal since it was first signed by the three member countries.
“It will be the best and most important trade deal ever made by the USA,” the president said on Twitter on Tuesday, calling the deal “good for everybody”.
Approval of the trade deal would be a major political victory for House Democrats, who want to show they can pass important legislation even while moving toward impeaching the president.
Republicans have criticised the Democrats, who hold a majority in the House, for letting the trade bill languish while they focus on impeachment.
It also would be a victory for Trump ahead of next year's election. A rewrite of Nafta was one of his main campaign promises in 2016.
Trump signs Nafta replacement, but hurdles remain in Congress
AFL-CIO the largest US federation of unions said the revised USMCA will create “enforceable labour standards” but said the agreement is “far from perfect”.
“It alone is not a solution for outsourcing, inequality or climate change,” AFL-CIO said in a statement.
“But there is no denying that the trade rules in America will now be fairer because of our hard work and perseverance.”
