Senate Finance Committee Members Say June 1 Is Too Soon for USMCA Into Force
Nineteen of the 28 senators on the Finance Committee -- including Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and top Democrat Ron Wyden of Oregon -- told U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer that having the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement start on June 1 is too soon.
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“Before USMCA enters into force, the United States must have confidence that all three parties have fulfilled their respective obligations. A long experience of incomplete and inadequate implementation by trade agreement partners has taught us that the United States must do this work on the front end to ensure that the words on paper deliver genuine benefits to Americans, including our farmers, workers, and businesses. We urge you to seriously reconsider the proposed June 1 entry into force of USMCA, particularly in light of the significant public health crisis and supply chain disruptions caused by COVID-19,” they wrote in a letter sent March 30.
“Even absent the pandemic, a June 1 deadline would be highly aggressive, and raises questions as to whether businesses have the information they need to adjust to the new rules and comply by that date,” they said. They asked Robert Lighthizer to work with stakeholders and Congress to set a more feasible timeline.
Grassley said on a phone call with reporters on March 31 that so far, there's been no reply from Lighthizer. “I think there’s a real feeling in this administration that if they tell Mexico and Canada that they’re going to change that date, that we don’t have any leverage in getting the enforcement of our wheat and our dairy and other agricultural products into Canada, get things worked out on biotech with Mexico,” Grassley said. He said that members of the administration feel that if they don't have a “tough stance on the June 1 date,” then Canada and Mexico “just put off and put off and put off.”
Grassley said that since he represents a farming state, he has some sympathy for that view, but in the end, he thinks industry and government are not ready for the June 1 date. “It’s difficult to manufacture cars if you don’t know what the rules of the game are,” he said.
Other signatories to the letter were Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas; Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.; John Thune, R-S.D.; Robert Menendez, D-N.J.; Richard Burr, R-N.C.; Tom Carper, D-Del.; Rob Portman, R-Ohio; Ben Cardin, D-Md.; Tim Scott, R-S.C.; Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio; Todd Young, R-Ind.; Michael Bennet, D-Colo.; Bob Casey, D-Pa.; Mark Warner, D-Va.; Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.; Maggie Hassan, D-N.H.; and Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev.