Trump Calls on Democrats to Put Trade Pact Before Infrastructure Package
May 21 2019 - 8:55PM
Dow Jones News
By Michael C. Bender
WASHINGTON -- President Trump on Tuesday told Democratic
congressional leaders that Congress should approve his trade deal
with Canada and Mexico before taking up infrastructure
legislation.
Mr. Trump sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate
Minority Leader Chuck Schumer the day before a White House meeting
scheduled with them to discuss a potential infrastructure
package.
"Before we get to infrastructure, it is my strong view that
Congress should first pass the important and popular USMCA trade
deal," Mr. Trump wrote. "Once Congress has passed USMCA, we should
turn our attention to a bipartisan infrastructure package."
Last month, the president emerged from a similar meeting with
Democrats in which they agreed to aim for a $2 trillion package of
infrastructure spending. But there was no agreement on how to pay
for the plan, and Republicans in Congress have said they are
reluctant to support a deal that would increase the federal deficit
and deepen local governments' reliance on the federal
government.
The trade agreement would rewrite the 1994 North American Free
Trade Agreement -- and rebrand it as the U.S.-Mexico-Canada
Agreement, or USMCA. The deal was agreed upon by the three nations
last year, and signed by their leaders in November. But the
agreement still needs ratification from all three nations'
legislatures to take effect.
Mr. Trump says the deal would boost employment and benefit
farmers and manufacturing workers. The deal faces a difficult path
in Congress. Mrs. Pelosi and other Democrats have signaled they
won't allow a vote without changes that would make it enforce new
rules designed to strengthen labor rights in Mexico. Democrats
argue that a lack of worker protections there is hurting wages and
job prospects for U.S. workers.
The Trump administration on Friday removed another major barrier
to the pact, reaching agreements with Canada and Mexico to end
U.S.-imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum imports and unwind
retaliatory measures.
Mr. Trump also brought up passage of the trade deal, which he
made a central plank of his 2016 campaign, during the previous
infrastructure meeting.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 21, 2019 20:40 ET (00:40 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.