North American Free Trade Agreement

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has responded “favorably” to a counterproposal from the House Democrats' working group negotiating U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement issues with the administration, Ways & Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-MA) told reporters.

A Senate Appropriations Committee spending bill approved this week instructs the Commerce Department to publish the non-confidential aspects of the administration’s Section 232 report on auto and auto parts imports and contends that the president cannot unilaterally decide to terminate the North American Free Trade Agreement.

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.

“There is still an opportunity to address the unfair treatment of cattle and beef in this trade agreement, which has resulted in economic harm over the years to cow-calf producers, backgrounders, and feedlot operators.”

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has proposed changes to language that led to a 2017 U.S. loss in a labor case involving Guatemalan labor practices in his pitch to House Democrats working on the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, Inside U.S. Trade has learned.

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.

The Commerce Department and Mexican tomato growers on Thursday signed a final agreement that will suspend a U.S. antidumping investigation into fresh tomatoes from Mexico, despite reservations from the growers about an included inspection mechanism.