DeLauro Leads 105 House Democrats Urging Fixes to North American Trade Deal for U.S. Workers and Economy
DeLauro Leads 105 House Democrats Urging Fixes to North American Trade Deal for U.S. Workers and Economy
NEW HAVEN – Today, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) and 104 other Democratic legislators submitted comments to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative urging them to negotiate for stronger protections for U.S. workers, consumers, small businesses, and farmers in the upcoming six-year review of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), enacted in 2020 under the first Trump Administration as the successor agreement to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
“Since enactment of the USMCA, multinational corporations have continued to use the threat of offshoring as leverage wielded against workers standing up for dignity on the job and a share of the profits generated by their hard work – and far too often, enabled by our trade deals, companies have acted on these threats. The U.S. trade deficit with Mexico and Canada has significantly increased, and surging USMCA imports have undermined American workers and farmers and firms in the auto, steel, aerospace, and other sectors. Under the current USMCA rules, this ongoing damage is likely to worsen,” wrote Congresswoman DeLauro and fellow lawmakers.
The lawmakers endorsed several measures to strengthen the USMCA, including include improving the Rapid Response Mechanism, establishing a North America-wide minimum wage for manufacturing workers in key sectors, and eliminating special protections for monopolistic corporations like investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS).
“We are keen to work in partnership with you and USTR Greer on these and other issues throughout the USMCA review and renegotiation process. We believe that an agreement that includes the improvements that we note in this letter to ensure the USMCA delivers real benefits for American workers, farmers, and businesses can enjoy wide bipartisan support.”
Full text of the comments in the form of a letter can be found here.