Although the Senate Finance Committee will still have a mock markup on the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, it will happen after the implementing bill has been sent to Congress, so it will be more “mock” than in past deals. The reason the process of Congress weighing in on a trade deal is a mock markup is that under fast track, or Trade Promotion Authority, Congress cannot amend the deals. But typically, the administration sends up a draft implementing bill, and then does incorporate at least some of Congress's suggestions on language before sending the final implementing bill.
A bipartisan bill aimed at sanctioning fentanyl traffickers will be included in the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act expected to pass early next week, according to a Dec. 11 press release from Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Tom Cotton, R-Ark. The bill was passed in the Senate in June as part of the must-pass defense authorization bill (see 1906270054). In addition to sanctioning Chinese and other fentanyl traffickers, the Fentanyl Sanctions Act would urge the Trump administration to pursue multilateral sanctions with U.S. partners and to create a commission to report on how to better control shipments of synthetic opioids.
Even though the Democrats won some changes to the new NAFTA that are seen as contrary to business interests -- primarily, removing extended patent protection for pharmaceuticals in Canada and Mexico -- business groups celebrated House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's decision to hold a vote on the trade pact. A vote in the House is expected next week, but a Senate vote won't come until next year.
A top dairy lobbying group announced that executives would be visiting Congress Dec. 4 in what they characterized as “a last-ditch effort to save this deal,” and Farmers for Free Trade sent a letter to the top Republican and top Democrat in each chamber asking that the vote on the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement come as soon as possible. The letter, signed by 2,200 farmers around the country, was sent Dec. 3, and said that trade wars have hurt agriculture badly. “We have suffered from retaliatory tariffs, lost market share, and watched while America’s competitors are seen as more reliable trading partners. The reasons for this crisis are manifold but providing certainty about continued trade with two of our three largest export markets would provide America’s farmers and food manufacturers with a needed boost,” the letter said. “We are counting on our elected officials to champion the folks back home and appreciate your urgent action.”
Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., urged Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to sanction Turkey, saying in a letter that Turkey’s purchase of Russian missile defense systems should be met with consequences. The senators said Turkey’s July purchase of Russian S-400 missile parts (see 1907150039) falls under the scope of the Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act.
Although the U.S. trade representative found a way to avoid a congressional vote on a U.S.-Japan trade deal by limiting the size of the initial U.S. tariff reductions, Democrats on the Ways and Means Committee are questioning whether the deal is allowed under the fast-track law. A letter sent Nov. 26, led by Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., and signed by every Democrat on the committee except the chairman and Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., did not explicitly say that Democrats believe the law is not being followed, but repeatedly asked under what authority the agreement was reached. Among the specific issues raised were rules of origin or marking rules and whether there would be changes. The letter also asked if there is such a provision, why wasn't it mentioned in the notification to Congress.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the Democrats “are within range” of agreeing on a new NAFTA, adding that “we need to see our progress in writing from the Trade Representative for final review.” Pelosi released the statement in the evening of Nov. 25. She said that the original draft of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement that USTR reached with Canada and Mexico “still left American workers exposed to losing their jobs to Mexico, included unacceptable provisions to lock in high prescription drug prices, and fell short of key environmental standards,” but most of all, it had no concrete enforcement mechanisms. If Pelosi reaches agreement with USTR, the next step will be a draft implementing bill from USTR, and mock markups in the House Ways and Means Committee and Senate Finance Committee to shape the final bill.
Those who advise NAFTA stakeholders say that it looks like a factory-level inspection regime will be part of what Democrats get in their edits to the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, but how disruptive that will be for businesses is completely cloudy. Kellie Meiman Hock, a managing partner at McLarty Associates, said she thinks there are ways the inspections could be done that would not make Mexico feel like American government officials are deciding whether Mexican labor laws are being followed. Hock said the two governments could select inspectors who travel together, or it could be a coalition of non-governmental organizations, as was mobilized after more than 1,000 textile workers died in a factory collapse in Bangladesh.
When asked on "Fox & Friends" Nov. 22 whether he intends to sign or veto two bills on Hong Kong (see 1911200036), President Donald Trump didn't directly answer, instead saying, “We have to stand with Hong Kong, but I’m also standing with President Xi [Jinping], he’s a friend of mine. He’s an incredible guy, but we have to stand … I’d like to see them work it out, OK?"
House Democrats and the administration have gotten close enough on what the edits to the new NAFTA should be that they have narrowed differences to three, “maybe two and a half," the Ways and Means Committee chairman said Nov. 21. Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., had just exited a meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Neal said that at the beginning of the meeting, there were five issues separating them.