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Oct. 1, 2018 POLITICO reports: Get ready to hear a lot of talk about USMCA - the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Trade officials struck a deal late Sunday night for a three-way trade pact to replace NAFTA that includes significant changes to dairy import rules. The preliminary deal marks a major step toward fulfilling one of President Donald Trump's signature campaign promises. "It's a great win for the president and a validation for his strategy in the area of international trade," a senior administration official said on a call with reporters late Sunday. Dairy changes: Trump administration officials said the new framework eliminates Canada's "Class 7" pricing system for milk ingredients, Pro Canada's Alexander Panetta and Pro Trade's Adam Behsudi and Megan Casella report. It also opens the Canadian dairy market to U.S. exports at an additional 3.59 percent - more than the 3.25 percent share the Obama administration negotiated under the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The new dairy access was a priority for U.S. negotiators and had been one of the most vexing disputes in the trade talks. American dairy farmers complain that the milk ingredient pricing scheme has dried up demand for their products and distorted international markets. New safeguards will be created to prevent major export increases for certain dairy products. Read the text of the agreement here. In a joint statement, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland promised the pact would bring "freer markets" and "fairer trade" for farmers, ranchers and other workers. Now comes the hard part - getting Congress to approve the deal. The agreement gives Trump a clear policy victory to talk up on the campaign trail this month. But it's unclear how much support the new trade deal will garner among the president's own party. What lawmakers will look for: Republicans will closely scrutinize the deal's intellectual property rules and dispute-resolution mechanism, according to our Pro Trade colleagues. Democrats will analyze its labor and environmental standards, as House Ways and Means ranking member Richard Neal (D-Mass.) noted Sunday night. "The bar for supporting a new NAFTA will be high," Neal said in a statement. He and Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.), who chairs the panel's trade subcommittee, said they weren't convinced that USMCA was superior to NAFTA. That skepticism could prove problematic for ushering the new trade pact through Congress - especially if Democrats retake the House majority in the Nov. 6 midterm elections. Trump plans to sign the agreement along with his Mexican and Canadian counterparts by the end of November. A formal vote in Congress won't be held until next year. Advisory committee reports released: USTR also released reports from more than two dozen advisory panels asked to review the U.S.-Mexico trade agreement reached one month ago, including committees on agriculture. Doing so met a statutory requirement under Trade Promotion Authority law, which allows the deal to get an up-or-down vote without amendments. But at least some of the reports are already outdated now that Canada was added to the mix. It was not clear whether any of the reports would be revised to reflect the new agreement. Tweet |
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