Congress should act on trade deal
Published 7:00 pm Thursday, November 14, 2019
It has been nearly a year since the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) was signed by the three nations, yet Congress has failed to act.
The international trade deal is widely reported to have bi-partisan support in both houses of Congress, but it has been bottled up in the House of Representatives by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco.
The trade pack also reportedly has the support of many segments of the economy, including farmers and ranchers, labor unions and business.
Signed Nov. 30, 2018, the USMCA is expected to grow U.S. exports by $2 billion a year, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation.
The Farm Bureau also notes that the agreement will fix long-standing problems faced by U.S. dairy products in accessing Canada’s market, with an expected 3.6 percent of additional market access for U.S. dairy exports.
In addition, wheat also would see fairer treatment under USMCA, thanks to an agreement to grade U.S. wheat no less favorably than Canadian wheat.
With regards to Mexico, the U.S. and Mexico have agreed that all grading standards to agricultural products will be non-discriminatory. It would also enhance science-based standards among all three nations for animal and health safety issues that come up in international trade, the Farm Bureau reports.
The U.S. and Mexico also signed an agreement in September to prevent dumping of under-priced tomatoes on the U.S. market, resolving a long-running trade conflict that harmed farmers in Florida and other parts of the Southeast.
Further, the Farm Bureau insists the agreement between the U.S. and Mexico, further balances the scales between the two nations with new language on enforceable labor standards and wages, making working conditions better for those in Mexico and lower the chance that cheap labor south of the border will kill good-paying jobs here in the U.S.
It is past time for Speaker Pelosi to stop blocking this win-win U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement and bring it to a vote. The Senate could then act, President Trump sign it and give our nation another economic boost.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif. gestures during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington
