Editor’s note: We agree the USMCA is likely to pass this year. CPA has taken no position as of yet. The USMCA improves upon NAFTA in certain important respects but does not address country of origin labeling for meat. Also the enforceability of labor provisions are not yet clear.
Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX), the House chief deputy whip, said on Wednesday that Congress would pass the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement this year, hinting at a significant number of Democrats likely to support it.
[Isabelle Hoagland | July 24, 2019 | InsideTrade]
Asked if there was a “magic number” of Democratic votes that would convince House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to bring USMCA to the House floor for a vote, Cuellar cited what he called a “very, very different feeling” about USMCA versus prior trade deals.
Cuellar was one of just 15 Democrats who voted in support of the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement and one of 28 who backed the 2015 Trade Promotion Authority law.
“There are certain members that will vote ‘no’ every single time,” he said during a July 24 event hosted by the Global Business Dialogue in Washington, DC. “Then there are some members who will vote yes … a small amount … but there are a few of us there. Then you get a lot of people in the middle that are saying ‘Well, let me see.’”…
Read the entire article here.
