House Speaker Paul Ryan has indicated that two issues could complicate the passage of the deal. | J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo Ryan says May 17 is deadline to assure 2018 NAFTA vote

House Speaker Paul Ryan said the Trump administration has until May 17 — a week from Thursday — to submit a final NAFTA deal if it wants lawmakers to vote on the revised agreement this year.

Top trade officials from all three nations have been meeting all week in Washington to work out a revised deal, knowing that time was running short to get a deal through Congress in this legislative session. Ryan’s comments just add to the pressure to move quickly on a long list of contentious language that needs to be agreed to.


That‘s because the law known as the Trade Promotion Authority provides for “fast-tracking“ passage of a trade agreement negotiated by the administration by putting the deal to an up-or-down vote without amendment. The bill lays out a number of negotiating objectives required by Congress and mandates that the deal be notified to Congress 90 calendar days before the executive branch signs the agreement.

“As the author of TPA, we have to have the paper — not just an agreement. We have to have the paper from USTR by May 17 for us to vote on it this year, in December, in the lame duck,“ Ryan said at an event hosted by the Ripon Society on Wednesday. The organization, which backs the Republican Party, posted video of Ryan‘s remarks on its website Thursday.

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Sources have said the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and Ryan‘s office have been in talks over what form of a deal needs to be submitted to begin a mandatory consultation period under TPA legislation.

“So there are a handful of unresolved issues, and I’m just not — I don’t want to make news, but we’ll see if they can get this done by May 17 and give us the paper to Congress, which then we could have this vote in December. If they can’t, then we won’t,” Ryan said.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has spoken publicly about the need to reach a deal in principle within the next week.

Ryan indicated that two issues could complicate passage of a deal if they aren’t adequately addressed. He said one is the so-called investor-state dispute settlement mechanism that Lighthizer has proposed making optional. However, companies want to preserve the language because it provides them some recourse in the case of any breach to NAFTA‘s investment rules. Lighthizer, however, has derided the provision as political risk insurance paid for by the government.

“I think ISDS is in our interests. I think it’s a good thing,” Ryan said. He also added that there are “legitimate agriculture issues,” including the need to change Canada‘s milk pricing program and its limited market access for U.S. dairy exports.

“Where I come from, dairy is a big deal with Canada,” the Wisconsin lawmaker said.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this report misstated the time period in which the Trade Promotion Authority mandates a deal be notified to Congress. It mandates the deal be notified to Congress 90 calendar days before the executive branch signs the agreement.