U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin Votes to Move USMCA Forward

Statement

Today, U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin, a member of the Senate Commerce Committee, the Senate Appropriations Committee and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, voted in favor of moving the United States Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA) forward. All three committees voted to pass the USMCA on a strong bipartisan basis today, clearing the way for a Senate floor vote as soon as Thursday.

Baldwin announced her support for the USMCA last week, highlighting key improvements from the previous North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that she pushed for in order to ensure that the new trade agreement works better for Wisconsin dairy farmers and workers.

"President Trump's trade wars have hurt our Wisconsin economy and more than 1,900 dairy farms have gone out of business since he took office. The President's deal with Mexico and Canada fell short but I support the improvements Speaker Pelosi and House Democrats won to make this a better trade deal that I can support. The USMCA implementing legislation includes many changes I have pushed for with the Trump administration, including truly enforceable labor standards that benefit our workers, and making sure that we confront Canada's unfair trade barriers and Mexico's limits on Wisconsin cheese exports so that we have a trade deal that increases market access for our Wisconsin dairy farmers and cheesemakers," said Senator Baldwin.

"NAFTA, which I opposed, cost Wisconsin jobs and needed to be fixed. I am voting for the USMCA because it is a better deal for farmers, manufacturers, businesses and workers," Baldwin continued. "Going forward, President Trump needs to understand Wisconsin needs better trade deals, not trade wars and that in order to stop the outsourcing of manufacturing jobs we not only need fair trade deals, our workers need tax reform that rewards their hard work and doesn't encourage corporations to send their jobs to other countries."

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the USMCA last month. After Senate passage, the legislation will head to the President's desk to be signed into law.

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