US Senate passes new North America pact amid Trump's impeachment trial

A day after signing 'momentous' US-China trade deal, US President Donald Trump is set to conquer another milestone in trade front as the Senate has passed a new North American pact on January 16.  After reportedly a brief debate, the lawmakers voted 89-10 in favour of the bill which would allow the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) to take effect and enhance the trade relations. Trump will also be facing the impeachment trial in the same house with lawmakers reading the impeachment articles, but as per reports, he is expected to sign the deal next week. 

US Senate's majority leader, Mitch McConnell shared the news and also described it as a “major promise” from Trump. McConnell further thanked the US President for “prioritising” the USMCA deal. Reportedly, Wall Street and also the Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador hailed the news. Obrador called it “very meaningful” as USMCA's Senate passage has signalled “more confidence in Mexico”. 

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This new bill is an updated version of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement which was criticised by Trump for sending millions of manufacturing jobs to low-wage plants south of the US border. The Trump administration was reportedly more focussed to have more cars produced where workers can earn at least $16 in an hour. Furthermore, the deal also secured the changes which would require Mexico to revise its laws and make the formation of independent unions of workers, more convenient. 

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Bill 'transformed' by Democrats

While the Trump administration had completed the negotiations with Canada and Mexico a year ago, Democrats in the House had voted last month to adopt the USMCA after winning changes to the text that include strong guarantees that Mexican labour reforms can be enforced along with the changes governing medications and environmental standards. After Senate's voting, Pelosi said that the original draft which was put forth by the US President's administration left America workers “exposed to losing jobs in Mexico” and that it “failed to secure concrete enforcement mechanisms”. 

Pelosi said in a statement, “Today, the Senate passed a USMCA that has been transformed by Democrats’ leadership for American workers, American patients and the environment.  The flimsy enforcement proposed by the Trump Administration has been rewritten by Democrats into the strongest enforcement mechanisms of any U.S. trade agreement.”

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(With agency inputs)