The White House sent a draft version of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade deal to Congress on Thursday, attempting to kick-start the push to get lawmakers’ final approval — and drawing a rebuke from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Sending up the draft means President Trump could submit the official agreement within a month, starting a timeline for Congress to take final action.
That would heap pressure on Mrs. Pelosi, who has been trying to win more concessions on labor and environmental protections she says are important to prevent unfair competition with U.S. workers.
Mrs. Pelosi said Thursday’s move was “not a positive step.”
“It indicates a lack of knowledge on the part of the administration on the policy and process to pass a trade agreement,” she said.
The White House has made clear that approval of the trade deal is its most immediate legislative priority. Its approval was thrown into doubt last week, when the president vowed not to work with Democrats after Mrs. Pelosi accused him of being “engaged in a cover-up” by stonewalling several House investigations.
The agreement would replace the North American Free Trade Agreement, approved a quarter-century ago, which Mr. Trump railed against during the 2016 campaign.
Vice President Mike Pence traveled to Canada on Thursday to discuss the trade deal with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, calling the agreement “superior to its predecessor in every way.”
“We’re going to get the USMCA done this year,” Mr. Pence said, adding that the administration is “making energetic efforts” to get the deal approved by Congress this summer.
The vice president assured the audience in Ottawa that Mr. Trudeau drove a hard bargain.
“I was in on many of those discussions,” Mr. Pence said.
The leaders of Canada and Mexico formally began the process this week of asking their respective legislative bodies to ratify the USMCA.
On Wednesday, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland presented a motion to the House of Commons of Canada’s Parliament allowing for Mr. Trudeau to introduce a bill to ratify the trade deal. It’s hoped that Parliament will approve the deal before adjourning in late June.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Thursday that he was calling senators for a special session to send them the text of the trade agreement to begin ratification.
“There is collective spirit in favor of approving the accord,” Mr. Lopez Obrador told reporters.
In Washington, Mr. Trump says there’s enough support to clear the deal through the Republican-led Senate, leaving House Democrats as the chief hurdle.
While the terms of the USMCA are set, Mrs. Pelosi and her team are seeking “enforcement provisions” they say would protect U.S. workers from being undercut by competitors in Mexico that don’t have to comply with strict American environmental or labor standards.
“We all agree that we must replace NAFTA, but without real enforcement mechanisms we would be locking American workers into another bad deal,” she said. “We have been on a path to yes, but it must be a path that leads to an agreement that delivers positive results for American workers and farmers.”
Even as the president seeks congressional approval of the trade deal, he announced Thursday evening that he will slap new tariffs on Mexico as part of an attempt to force the country to stop a surge of Central American migrants.
Action in Mexico and Canada on the trade deal had been delayed for months by a dispute over U.S. tariffs of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminum. The administration agreed this month to waive the tariffs again, paving the way for Canada and Mexico to move forward with the trade deal.
Mr. Pence wouldn’t confirm that the president is preparing to threaten Mexico with new tariffs. But he said, “In the days ahead, you’ll see the president take action to call on Mexico to do more, to call on Congress to close the loopholes that have created … this massive humanitarian crisis.”
“We need them to do more to enforce their southern border,” Mr. Pence said of Mexico.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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