Skip to main content
Working & the Economy

Hogan Expresses Approval as Dems, Trump Declare Victory on Massive Trade Deal

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) interviewed by reporters in the U.S. Capitol. Photo by Pete Marovich/Getty Images

U.S. House Democrats have worked out key differences with the Trump administration over a massive trade deal, allowing both sides to declare a legislative victory on the same day the House unveiled articles of impeachment against the president.

Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) was the first prominent Maryland elected official to express approval for the bipartisan agreement. 

If ratified, the deal would replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which took effect a quarter century ago. Proponents say the “new NAFTA” will grow the economy, support workers, protect the environment and create a more level playing field between the United States and Mexico and Canada. 

“It’s a victory for America’s workers [and] one we take great pride in advancing,” Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said at a Capitol Hill news conference Tuesday. 

Democrats regarded the Trump administration’s initial version of the deal as a non-starter because of language that they said would allow violations of labor and environmental standards to go unchecked and lead to higher prescription drug prices. 

But Pelosi credited her Democratic colleagues for negotiating a new version with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer that strengthens labor and environmental standards and enhances monitoring and inspection processes. It also removes “corporate gifts” to the pharmaceutical industry that would have harmed consumers, Democrats said.

The new version of the deal — known as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) — is better than NAFTA and “infinitely better” than the original version, Pelosi said.

It also has the support of AFL-CIO head Richard Trumka, a champion of labor rights. 

The deal is “far from perfect,” he said in a statement Tuesday. “But there is no denying that the trade rules in America will now be fairer because of our hard work and perseverance. Working people have created a new standard for future trade negotiations.”

GOP support

President Trump and leaders of Canada and Mexico signed the original version of the deal last fall and must sign off on the new language.

Pelosi expects the full House chamber to consider the USMCA this month, and Republican leaders in the U.S. Senate have been actively pushing for it.

Trump, who campaigned in 2016 on improving trade, cheered the deal Tuesday.

“America’s great USMCA Trade Bill is looking good,” he tweeted. “It will be the best and most important trade deal ever made by the USA.”

If ratified, the USMCA would also give political cover to Democrats who have been eager to show they can legislate while also pursuing an impeachment inquiry.

This is especially true for vulnerable Democrats in some of the country’s more conservative districts, who fear being charged with legislative inaction and an obsession with impeachment.

Pelosi dismissed those political calculations out of hand on Tuesday, saying: “Not any one of us is important enough to hold up a trade agreement that is important for American workers because of any collateral benefit that might accrue to any one of us.”

In Maryland, Hogan, who has tried to build a political brand around bipartisanship, hailed the deal, calling it “a fair and flexible agreement.”

“As chairman of the National Governors Association, I have been working to bring the nation’s governors — both Republicans and Democrats — together in support of the USMCA,” he said in a statement. “By creating jobs, strengthening economic ties, and establishing a more level playing field for American workers and businesses, agreements like the USMCA are essential to ensuring future prosperity for our nation and for the State of Maryland.”

Last month, Hogan, along with Gov. Francisco Dominguez, chairman of La Conferencia Nacional de Gobernadores in Mexico, and Premier Scott Moe, chairman of the Council of the Federation in Canada, authored a joint CNBC op-ed about the need to ratify the USMCA. Earlier this year, Hogan wrote to the Maryland congressional delegation and to Trump and Capitol Hill leaders in support of the legislation.

Canada and Mexico are important trade partners for the state, supporting over 300,000 local jobs. Exports to those countries represent more than 20% of all Maryland goods exported globally, with Canada as the number one and Mexico as the number eight export market for the state.

Josh Kurtz contributed to this report.

[email protected]

REPUBLISHING TERMS

Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our website. Please see our republishing guidelines for use of photos and graphics.

If you have any questions, please email [email protected].

To republish, copy the following text and paste it into your HTML editor.

License

Creative Commons License AttributionCreative Commons Attribution
Hogan Expresses Approval as Dems, Trump Declare Victory on Massive Trade Deal