USMCA Negotiators 'Exhausted,' Chairman Says, but Still Narrowing Gaps
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., sounded a little less optimistic about the Democrat working group reaching a conclusion on the new NAFTA than he has recently, even as he told reporters “we made some advances today" in a meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer Oct 30. "The differences continue to narrow." He also said both sides are exhausted.
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Working group member Rep. John Larson, D-Conn., described where they are as "dotting i's and crossing t's," but also said that "every week it looks like the end of the tunnel is here, and it gets a little bit further." He said he does think he can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Neal said Oct. 30 that if Lighthizer, Democrats' trade staff, and the AFL-CIO could meet during the next 10 or 12 days to talk about labor and enforcement, that would be helpful. Larson agreed. He said of the AFL-CIO president, "While he's not there yet, he certainly has been very positive about a number of the issues that they continue to discuss, even the ones that are still outstanding."
When asked by International Trade Today if the AFL-CIO president has veto power over the labor provisions, Neal answered, "We want Labor to come along to build a template for future trade agreements." He said that the idea that goods could be stopped at the border if they were produced in violation of the labor chapter was discussed during the meeting.
Rep. Ron Kind, D-Wis., a leading trade advocate in the House Democratic caucus, said he'd just talked to working group member and fellow New Democrat Rep.Terri Sewell of Alabama, and she said they were "inching closer" with the USTR. Kind said everyone's goal is to get the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement ratified before the end of the year, and "it's time to get this across the end zone."
He said the two sides are hung up on language for enforcement, "and we need to resolve biologics still, find a landing zone for that, and then some capacity building down in Mexico. They're going to need some help to implement labor reform, technical support and some resources, so we're pressing the administration on what they're willing to do on that front."
Kind said he had hoped Democrats would be satisfied with replicating the enforcement provisions in the Trans-Pacific Partnership -- which did not allow for panel blocking. Mexico is a party to the TPP, even though the U.S. withdrew. He's concerned that Mexico cannot accept the idea -- advocated by the AFL-CIO -- that goods be stopped at the border if they come from factories that are violating Mexican labor laws.
"If you keep adding on additional requirements, that might prove problematic for them," he said. He said Chairman Neal "is hearing from all quarters right now," including on this question.
Working group member Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut said she's arguing that as CBP is willing to block goods that are counterfeit, so why not protect workers, too?
Kind said that with regard to the 10-year exclusivity for biologics, "I'm not sure what the right answer is, but ... I keep coming back to the fact that the Speaker's not going to bring a trade bill to the floor that deeply divides her caucus. I think the administration needs to recognize that, and ask themselves, how bad do they want this agreement, and how important is the biologics section that got included in it?" He said he thought there were a lot of members who support the pharmaceutical industry, but would still vote yes with the provision changed.
Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Illinois, a working group member who co-leads the biologics task force in that group, said she's still waiting to see something in writing on biologics.
DeLauro, the leading opponent to the original NAFTA and TPP, convened a panel Oct. 30 with two labor representatives who talked about all the ways they don't believe Mexico can go the distance in labor reform, and all the inadequacies they see in the NAFTA rewrite.
Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., a Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee member who is not on the working group, told the crowd of House staffers, advocates and several other Democratic members of the House that he's leaning toward voting no on the new NAFTA. He said he believes the Mexican president wants to reform the country's labor laws, but described the funding for those reforms as just enough to nibble around the edges. "I want to pump the brakes until we see real changes," Pascrell said. However, he suggested Democratic leadership is not in the same place. "It's coming to a head," he said. "We're moving toward some sort of reconciliation"
DeLauro complained about how NAFTA opponents were characterized 26 years ago, and said unfortunately, they were right about the manufacturing job losses they foresaw. She complained that President Bill Clinton offered wavering House Democrats a ride on Air Force One in order to secure "yes" votes. "They bought off people in the last week," she said, and they had to do that because the sentiment in the country was against passage.
"That's not going to happen again," she warned.