Experts warn of economic uncertainty until USMCA ratified; Dems cast doubts
WASHINGTON — Economic uncertainty will linger across North America unless and until a divided Congress approves the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, trade lawyers from both countries predicted Wednesday as newly emboldened Democrats on Capitol Hill vowed not to rubber-stamp the deal.
The agreement is expected to be signed Nov. 30 when leaders from all three countries gather for two days of G20 meetings in Buenos Aires, but it won’t be a high-profile, high-level affair if they remain locked in their standoff over President Donald Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs.
But that will not be the least of the hurdles facing the deal: the formal signatures matter less than legislative ratification. And Democrats, who will take a majority of the seats in the House of Representatives in January, are hinting at a go-slow approach.
New Jersey Rep. Bill Pascrell, the presumptive head of the influential Ways and Means trade subcommittee, became the latest Wednesday, telling Bloomberg that Democrats will want better enforcement mechanisms for USMCA’s labour and environmental clauses before signing off on Trump’s showcase trade deal.