Pelosi says agreement on revamped NAFTA ‘imminent’

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., talks to reporters on the morning after the first public hearing in the impeachment probe of President Donald Trump on his effort to tie U.S. aid for Ukraine to investigations of his political opponents, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2019. Pelosi says the president's actions in the impeachment inquiry amount to "bribery." 

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., talks to reporters on the morning after the first public hearing in the impeachment probe of President Donald Trump on his effort to tie U.S. aid for Ukraine to investigations of his political opponents, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2019. Pelosi says the president's actions in the impeachment inquiry amount to "bribery." 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she wants to see Congress pass President Donald Trump’s revamped North American free trade deal this year.

In a news conference on Thursday, the California Democrat said an agreement on the pact is “imminent.”

The United States, Mexico, and Canada last year agreed to replace the 25-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement with a new version designed to encourage more investment in factories and jobs in the U.S.

But the so-called U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, needs congressional approval. Democratic lawmakers have demanded changes designed to do more to protect workers and the environment and to make sure the deal’s provisions can be enforced.

Pelosi’s upbeat comments suggest progress in negotiations between congressional Democrats and Trump administration officials at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

Moving ahead on the trade deal could signal that Democrats and Republicans can work on substantive issues even as the House pursues a divisive impeachment case against Trump.

Still, the administration has yet to release a text of the legislation Congress will vote on, so business and labor groups don’t have details on how Trump’s team and Democrats are attempting to bridge their differences.

“There’s no question (Pelosi’s comment) is tangible progress toward passing USMCA,” said Daniel Ujczo, a trade lawyer at Dickinson Wright PLLC in Columbus, Ohio. “I’m just not sure we’re at the goal line now.”