By Canadian Press

Vote first on USMCA to spark action in U.S., former USTR urges Canada, Mexico

Jan 29, 2019 | 10:46 AM

WASHINGTON — A former U.S. trade ambassador is urging Canada and Mexico to vote to approve their new North American trade pact with the United States, hoping to spur action on Capitol Hill before the end of the year.

Miriam Sapiro, a Democrat who served under President Barack Obama, says doing so would also make it harder for congressional critics of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement to reopen the deal.

Sapiro was on a USMCA panel during a trade conference in Washington alongside Canadian Chamber of Commerce president Perrin Beatty and Mexico’s chief NAFTA negotiator, Kenneth Smith Ramos.

She says it’s vital that Congress ratify the deal within five months to avoid complications with Canada’s federal election in October and the next U.S. presidential campaign.

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Sapiro also considers it healthy that a number of U.S. lawmakers from both the Democratic and Republican sides of the aisle are expressing concerns with the deal— too much consensus on one side would fuel doubt on the other.

Beatty says he’s less than thrilled with the agreement: while some call it NAFTA 2.0, he refers to it as NAFTA 0.8 — a lesser deal than its predecessor but the best Canada was able to do in a new era of “managed trade.”

The Canadian Press