Ways and Means Committee Moves USMCA to House Floor

The House Ways and Means Committee, with near-unanimity, recommended the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement go to the floor. A vote on the replacement for NAFTA is expected on Dec. 19. For about three hours, Democrats and Republicans praised the rewrite of North America's free trade pact, though many Republicans complained that it took a year to get the opportunity to vote for it.

Rep. Earl Blumenauer, the Oregon Democrat who leads the trade subcommittee, said, “I think it was worth the wait.” Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., predicted that the deal would bring billions in investment for automotive plants in the U.S. “This reminds me so much of when I would sit down and write a letter to Santa Claus. I never got everything I asked for, but I was sure as heck thankful for everything I got.”

Rep. Jimmy Gomez, D-Calif., who served on the working group that negotiated changes to the USMCA, said the fact that Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said he will vote for it -- the first time in his more than 25-year career that Brown will vote for a trade deal -- shows how substantial the changes are to what was first negotiated.

He asked Maria Pagan, who serves as deputy general counsel at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, to explain how the rapid response labor panels will decide on penalties if a factory or farm is found to have violated workers' rights.

She said the country that is complaining can take an action proportionate to the violation, which could be suspending USMCA tariff benefits, or some other penalty. If a factory under the same ownership is later found to be in violation, there can be a suspension of tariff benefits for both that factory and the first factory. The language about proportionality is dropped on the second offense. And, if a third violation is found at a company, the complaining country can deny entry of goods from all the factories under that ownership.

Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., who traveled to Mexico on a congressional trip, described the Goodyear plant they tried to visit. She said that workers there made $53 a week, and when they went on strike for better wages, she said they were “unceremoniously fired. These penalties serve as a strong deterrent to exploiting workers like Goodyear did.”

Several pro-trade Democrats said they hope that getting USMCA ratified will stop threats of tariffs on Mexico or Canada, like the Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum, or the threat of tariffs on all Mexican imports, which was briefly in play when President Donald Trump was unhappy about Central American migration through Mexico.

Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., said, “I hope if there’s a return to tariff threats, we’ll see the same bipartisan support for a return to sanity and certainty offered by this agreement” as there is for ratifying the deal.

One of the major changes Democrats won in negotiations with USTR was dropping extended data protections for biologic drugs in Mexico and Canada. Rep. George Holding, R-N.C., whose Research Triangle Park district has a heavy pharmaceutical company presence, said removing that provision is kneecapping doctors who research drugs. “To insinuate there’s a correlation between protecting our innovations in Mexico and prices of drugs in the U.S. is disingenuous,” he said, but he did vote to send USMCA to the floor.

Only Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., voted no, as he said members of Congress can't know if sham protection unions will be eliminated with the Mexican labor reforms and the enhanced monitoring and U.S. funding for technical support.

“Will this agreement do anything to raise wages for American workers? Doubtful by all accounts,” he said. “Will these terms here stop the offshoring of our jobs? They will not.”