Ways and Means Chairman Says 'Couple of Substantial Issues' Solved in USCMA

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., who leads the working group tasked with getting fixes to the NAFTA rewrite, said that Democrats and the U.S. trade representative have "reached agreement on a couple of substantial issues." Neal, who earlier told International Trade Today that he hopes to have a vote on the deal before Thanksgiving, said the progress at the staff level during the two-week recess that starts Sept. 30 will be critical. He said he hopes that when the working group returns, "we'll have a chance to see the goal line."

Rep. Jimmy Gomez, D-Calif., another working group member, said that the meeting Sept. 27 with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer went great, though some of the group's concerns continue. "I would say we're going into the sixth inning, and we have a few more innings to play."

Working group member Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Ala., told ITT: "I'm not sure when we're going to get it done, but we're definitely making great headway, and we're all negotiating in good faith, and it'll be ready when it's ready."

Prominent NAFTA opponent Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., who is also on the working group, said the two sides are still talking about "how we can try to get closer," and said that if there was no movement, "we would not be continuing to meet." When asked about the data exclusivity period for biologics in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, as the rewrite is called, she said, "Big issue, big issue, still a conversation about that."

Gomez said Democrats are talking about funding to address labor and environmental issues, both from the U.S. and from Mexico. With regard to the North American Development Bank, he said that there are some members who want to make sure there's sufficient U.S. funding for that institution. The House Financial Services Committee passed a bill on a 32-23 vote that would recapitalize NAD Bank at the same level that it was originally set up. The U.S. was responsible for $1.5 billion in capitalization, though only 15 percent of that was a direct cash contribution.

Gomez said one of the main concerns Democrats have is how Mexico is going to implement its labor reforms, especially given the 2020 Mexican Labor Department budget. He said he'll be telling Mexican diplomats that he thinks they need to spend more next year, and he said he's telling other Democrats to send the same message. If Mexico did that, he said, it would "build some confidence amongst the Democratic members that these reforms are going to stick in the long term."

Trade Subcommittee ranking member Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., told ITT that he had just talked "with a bunch of people yesterday," about where things stand with USMCA, including Democratic and Republican leaders, because he wanted to check the temperature after this week's developments.

"I've talked to enough people, I think we're going to get there," he said. "There's never a slam dunk on trade, as you know. I think there are a few more things they need to work through, but I'm optimistic."

One of the things that Buchanan wants to see worked through is the fact that Georgia and Florida fruit and vegetable growers didn't get the seasonality antidumping provisions they wanted. "We're not there on that, but it's all going to come together, the loose ends," he said.

Freshman Democrat Rep. Tom Malinowski, who defeated a Republican in New Jersey, also touched on the impeachment news in his assessment of USMCA's prospects. "I'm very much in the camp of wanting to get to yes, and there are reasonable accommodations that are needed to get the majority of the House there. I think it's possible. I think the current climate doesn't make it harder, in fact it creates an even stronger incentive for both sides to get this thing done. But there are, as there have been from the start, reasonable substantive concerns about labor rights, enforceability of various aspects of the trade agreement that just have to be satisfied." When he heard from the working group earlier in the week, he said he "came away optimistic that this is doable."

"I'd say we're in the eighth inning of a tied game. It's a good analogy, because of course, we'd like the game to end in the ninth inning, but there is another option," Malinowski said.

On enforceability, Malinowski said the ability to block the formation of panels in state-to-state disputes must be addressed. "The way that these panels are empaneled has been a significant problem, as you know. I'm not about making the perfect the enemy of the good, but I do want to make sure that if trade unionists in Mexico have a legitimate complaint about these new laws not actually being enforced, then there has to be some way for that complaint to be objectively heard without giving the government being accused the power to prevent that process from even going forward."