Mexico

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on Tuesday will send a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) urging her to put the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement to a vote, he told reporters this week.

Key House Democrats have received a new proposal crafted by Rep. Andy Levin (D-MI) that would address labor concerns with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement in part by requiring Mexico to implement labor reforms in at least 500 workplaces before the trade deal is ratified, Inside U.S. Trade has learned.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told reporters on Wednesday she is committed to resolving issues with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement despite an impeachment probe into President Trump -- a position Trump reduced to a “camouflage for trying to win an election.”

President Trump could move forward with most U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement provisions without congressional approval, according to a report published on Tuesday by the National Taxpayers Union Foundation.

The Trump administration's U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement implementing bill is being eyed as a potential trade-off for a pension measure that might ensure more Democratic support for the trade deal, according to a report issued this week by a conservative think tank.

House Democrats working with the Trump administration on the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement say a newly announced impeachment investigation into the president is unlikely to derail USMCA in Congress.

And the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Chuck Grassley (R-IA), warned Democrats against mixing the two issues.

A group of House Democrats next week will present U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer a response to the agency’s attempt to address concerns with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-MA) said on Friday, adding that the two sides had agreed to “intensify” negotiations.