Top Senate Democrats Endorse USMCA
Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the senior Democrat on the Finance Committee, and Sen. Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat who voted against NAFTA, have endorsed the NAFTA rewrite, known as the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. The two had said they would oppose the USMCA unless it included a labor enforcement mechanism that carried consequences for Mexican imports from factories that weren't honoring workers' rights.
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“One of my proudest votes was against NAFTA, because I knew it would encourage multinational corporations to close factories in Ohio and offshore jobs to Mexico,” Brown said in a statement announcing the endorsement. He said that the USMCA wasn't much better initially, but after his fight, along with the union movement and House Democrats, they were able to insert a “worker-empowering, corporation-scaring enforcement innovation” in the text. Brown said: “That’s why this will be the first trade agreement I’ve ever voted for.” He said he would push to have similar provisions in future deals.
The enforcement arrangement calls for facility-level investigations by a multinational panel with independent labor experts. If they conclude there have been violations of collective bargaining rights, goods from that factory can be denied tariff benefits. On a third violation at the same company, goods could be blocked at the border.
The implementing bill was posted at the end of the day Dec. 13; a mock markup is scheduled in the House Ways and Means Committee on Dec. 17.