United States-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement
Floor Speech
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Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, I want to address an issue for my colleagues, something a lot of Senators have been talking about more recently, and none too soon--the Mexico-Canada agreement with the United States, a very important trade agreement.
President Trump and the leaders of Mexico and Canada signed the USMCA on November 30, 2018, which was 43 weeks ago. More than 3 months have passed since Mexico ratified the USMCA, and Canada's ratification is well underway. However, the U.S. Congress must do its part, and time is running short.
We have a limited opportunity to ratify the USMCA before election politics get in the way of securing this very critical win for literally every broad industry sector in America. I therefore urge the administration and House Democrats not only to intensify discussions on the USMCA but also to expedite those discussions and to present USMCA to the Congress.
By now, everyone should know very well that Mexico and Canada are by far America's most important trading partners. In 2017, America sold more than a half trillion dollars of exports to Mexico and Canada. Those were more exports than we sold to the next 11 largest export markets combined. For Iowa, my State, 130,000 jobs were supported by the $6.6 billion of exports to Mexico and Canada in the same year of 2017.
These numbers are not just academic statistics. During the August State work period, I completed my 39th year holding Q and A's in every one of Iowa's 99 counties, and I consistently heard from Iowans that passing the USMCA ought to be a very top priority for the Congress.
I joined the former Governor of Iowa and former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, at a dairy processing plant in Des Moines. This meeting, with one Republican and one Democrat appreciating the great contributions of Iowa agriculture to our Nation and to exports, demonstrated what I heard at my town meetings--that passing the USMCA should be a bipartisan priority.
In Cedar Falls, IA, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Under Secretary, Bill Northey, and I held a roundtable discussion with various commodity groups about the farm economy and the certainty that passing USMCA would bring to the agricultural community, particularly to the family farmers.
USMCA was also a focal point when I held meetings at manufacturing plants, such as Altec in Osceola, IA, and AIM Aerospace in Orange City, IA. I can state firsthand that people in the real world--people living outside of the Washington Beltway--want Congress to pass the USMCA as soon as possible.
My county meetings help me better represent Iowans, and it is clear to me that Iowans support the USMCA. We can't squander this opportunity to update NAFTA, which has been critical to American farmers and businesses but is now a quarter century old. Issues negotiated in the USMCA were not issues 25 years ago, showing just how out of date NAFTA is, as well as the importance of the USMCA.
USMCA will bring greater market access for agriculture and important new commitments in areas such as customs, digital trade, intellectual property, labor, the environment, currency, and nontariff trade barriers. These updates and upgrades will translate into higher wages, greater productivity, and consequently more jobs for Americans.
In fact, the independent U.S. International Trade Commission found that USMCA will create nearly 176,000 new American jobs while adding more than $68 billion to America's GDP.
Let's not forget, USMCA was a hard-fought negotiation. For Mexico, two Presidents worked across opposing administrations to get this job done. Canada initially held out of the agreement altogether, only to sign on at the last possible opportunity.
It is easy for Members of Congress to talk about how we would have negotiated the agreement differently. There is some talk like that going on. That would be true whether you are a Republican or Democrat. However, as the U.S. International Trade Commission report made very clear, USMCA is a major advancement from the 25-year-old NAFTA agreement. This is certainly true for labor and the environment, which were mere side agreements to NAFTA 25 years ago. Now these issues addressed in USMCA are some of the strongest obligations ever to have been included in any U.S. trade agreement. Simply put, we can't let the perfect be the enemy of the good, and calling the USMCA ``good'' would be a serious understatement.
The administration did its job and brought us a modernized trade agreement. Nevertheless, the administration has listened to the concerns of House Democrats and has proposed actions to address those concerns. For my part, I have kept an open mind throughout this process, and I welcome any workable, bipartisan solutions. However, given the political calendar that lies ahead, I need those solutions promptly. We simply don't have any more time to spare.
Iowans and all Americans deserve some much needed certainty on access to our half-trillion-dollar export markets in Mexico and Canada, and it is the job of this Congress to deliver. The time for USMCA is right now.
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