Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (N. Y.) warned on Monday that the Trump administration is going to have to compromise on elements of a new…
Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (N. Y.) warned on Monday that the Trump administration is going to have to compromise on elements of a new trade deal with Canada and Mexico if it is to have any chance of being implemented by Congress.
Schumer in a statement Friday said the labor and environmental provisions of the current deal are “too weak.”
“I am most interested in ensuring that any final agreement protects our dairy farmers and that there is real enforcement of new and tough labor provisions. The deal must also raise wages and should recognize that climate change is a grave threat to our countries’ economies and the health and safety of our citizens,” he said.
President Trump, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto signed the new deal Friday morning at the G-20 summit in Buenos Aires. If approved by Congress, it would replace the 1994 North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
Now it’s Congress’s job to pass implementing legislation, which only needs a simple majority in both chambers under the Trade Promotion Authority law.
But under that law Congress must review and debate the legislation for a period of 30 days, which means the administration has to send the final document to Capitol Hill later Friday if it is to have any chance of receiving a vote before Democrats take control of the House in January.
