As the 2020 election year closes in, politicians are turning up the heat on their efforts to revise the old legislation and pass the new. Trade, one of the most heavily discussed legislative pieces throughout this past year, has been given plenty of air time in the news.
Within trade, United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) surely takes the cake for demand in our agricultural industry, and for good reason. If the USMCA does not pass through Congress before year end, the odds of the pact being passed in an election year are very low. As tensions rise, the pressure from the public continues to keep pace. But President Trump consistently reassures American?s the agreement is well-worth the wait.
In early June, talks swirled of President Trump?s intention to send a ratified USMCA to Congress after September 1st. With August recess reeling in, agriculturalists hoped the USMCA would be delivered before the break. We are now halfway through July, and though Mexico has finished their ratifications, the U.S. has yet to follow suit.
Although many American?s wish to see the pact move quickly, Representative Dan Newhouse says slow and steady wins the race.
?Without having the passing agreements from the speaker that will be positively considered, that?s a risk of losing the agreement. And so I think that?s a strategy being worked out between the White House and the Congress in order to make sure that this is a successful process.?
Last week, President Trump visited Wisconsin where he elaborated on the USMCA.
?The USMCA will be the most modern, cutting-edge trade agreement in history, with the strongest protections for the American worker ever put in any trade agreement. And that was the single-most important thing to me. The USMCA will close the biggest loopholes that caused the mass exodus of manufacturing under NAFTA.?
President Trump also touched on Mexico?s recent pact update.
?Mexico has now committed to be the toughest and have the toughest labor provisions, the highest environmental standards, and the most comprehensive enforcement provisions ever implemented in a trade agreement ? ever.?
