House Minority Leader Says Republicans Don't Know How Much Support They Have for New NAFTA
California's Kevin McCarthy, the leader of House Republicans, has said the new NAFTA only needs a "few votes" to get a majority in the House, where ratification will begin. But when asked by International Trade Today if his side has a sense of how many Republican "no" votes there might be, McCarthy said they haven't asked. In 1993, 43 Republicans voted against ratifying NAFTA.
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"We meet with our members," McCarthy said during a May 16 press conference, adding that "we don't start whipping until a bill is gonna be scheduled. The person who determines that is the Speaker."
McCarthy accused House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democrats of "moving the goal posts" because of their demands for changes on biologics, and stronger enforcement language for labor and environmental provisions. "We want to get this done," he said. "And why do we want to get it done? More jobs for Americans. It modernizes the NAFTA agreement. It makes America stronger."
McCarthy declined to answer a question about what U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has told him about the status of de minimis in the NAFTA rewrite's implementing legislation. He said, "That's a question for him." Lighthizer did not answer questions from a Democrat and a Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee on whether he would put a change to current U.S. de minimis of $800 in the implementing bill (see 1905020032).