Donald Trump is facing a high-stakes political showdown in Congress over the approval of the USMCA trade pact with Canada and Mexico, as senior administration officials and Republican lawmakers push for a quick vote on the deal in the face of scepticism from many Democrats.
The stand-off over USMCA — which was struck last year as a replacement for the Clinton-era Nafta deal — has cast a pall over Mr Trump’s trade agenda this year amid the tariff war with China and threatens to deprive the US president of a key legislative victory heading into his re-election campaign.
It has also added to uncertainty over the fate of trade in North America, where supply chains have become increasingly intertwined as billions of dollars worth of goods cross the northern and southern US border each year.
In recent week, Trump officials and their allies on Capitol Hill have been clamouring for Democrats to embrace the agreement quickly, acknowledging that there is a short window to secure passage before the 2020 presidential race kicks in and complicates the political dynamic. Some are optimistic.
“I don’t know when it’s going to come up but I feel very positive about it,” Chuck Grassley, the veteran Republican senator from Iowa who chairs the finance committee in the upper chamber of Congress, told the Financial Times. “It ought to have broad bipartisan support.”.
Many Democrats do not share that rosy assessment. They have been demanding changes to the deal’s provisions on labour and environmental standards, drug prices and enforcement, in discussions with Robert Lighthizer, the US trade representative, over the summer. But they still have no certainty that their concerns will be addressed.
“We all believe Nafta must be replaced, but USMCA is not there yet. We need trade deals that help hardworking men and women. Rushing a trade deal through will not level the playing field,” Debbie Dingell, a Democratic lawmaker from Michigan, warned on Twitter on Tuesday.
