Pro-Trade Democrats Say Talking About Vote Timing on New NAFTA Is Premature
Pro-trade Democrats said that given the barrier of Section 232 tariffs, the fact that Mexico has not yet passed labor law reform, and other concerns, it's premature to be talking about the timing of a vote in the House of Representatives to ratify the new NAFTA. The president of the New Democrats, as well as two other trade leaders in the pro-growth caucus, talked to reporters April 2 after meeting with Canada's U.S. Ambassador David MacNaughton at the Capitol.
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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said at an event earlier in the day that implementing legislation cannot take care of the problem of a lack of enforcement in the rewrite, which she called the overarching concern, in addition to complaints about Mexico's labor standards, the environment provisions and how biologics are treated. "Enforcement has to be in the treaty, not in the implementing legislation. Implementing legislation only bears on how we act, it doesn't bear on how all three countries act," she said.
Rep. Ron Kind, D-Wis., noted that Pelosi is the gatekeeper who will decide if there is a vote on the new NAFTA. "There are concerns being raised, even within New Dem ranks, on enforceability, labor provisions, biologics -- the exclusivity period, these things clearly have to be addressed if there's a path forward," he said. Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., added that critics of these provisions should be creative on how to address them, and not get stuck on reopening negotiations with Canada and Mexico to revise the core text.
In response to a question from International Trade Today on how the mechanism of state-to-state disputes can be strengthened, Kind said Trade Committee Chairman Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., has talked to a meeting of New Democrats about how Democrats can make sure that state-to-state disputes cannot be blocked, as they were during NAFTA (see 1807230029). "Clearly enforcement is a must, and we're going to need some guarantees with all the parties that these dispute panels are things that are real, and they will be appointed, so that disputes can get resolved. I don't particularly feel comfortable just expecting our president to rely on [Section] 301 sanctions in order to get his way, and neither, do I think, Canada and Mexico's going to feel comfortable. So they're going to need assurance and tighter language."