Senate passes USMCA, revamped trade deal with Mexico, Canada that will replace NAFTA

Show Caption Hide Caption McConnell: USMCA on hold until after Trump impeachment trial Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the vote on the revamped USMCA will likely occur after an expected impeachment trial in the Senate.

WASHINGTON – A revamped trade agreement with Mexico and Canada designed to create hundreds of thousands of U.S. jobs is headed to President Donald Trump for his signature after the Senate passed the deal Thursday.

The vote to approve the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, was an overwhelming 89-10. It's a major rewrite of rules for trade with the nation's neighbors and closest trading partners relating to agriculture, manufacturing and services.

The bill garnered the same kind of broad bipartisan support the trade measure received when USMCA passed the House last month by a 385-41 vote.

The agreement will benefit all corners of the U.S. economy, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on the Senate floor Thursday before the vote.

"Farmers. Growers. Cattlemen. Manufacturers. Small businesses. Big Businesses," the Kentucky Republican said. "This is a major step for our whole country."

The agreement will replace rules for moving products among the three countries crafted under the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, which essentially eliminated tariffs on most goods traded among the three countries.

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Trump and the leaders of both parties strongly support the measure, proving that Congress can unite when it wants to even during the bitter partisan division over impeachment.

Trump relentlessly ridiculed NAFTA as the “worst trade deal ever” when he was running for president three years ago, arguing it put American workers at a competitive disadvantage. Other critics, including Democrats, conceded NAFTA was outdated and needed to be revised.

Most Republicans, led by farm state and industrial belt lawmakers, supported it because of expanded trading opportunities championed by Trump. Democrats who didn't like the initial proposal got behind it after changes were made to beef up enforcement of labor standards, such as requiring the inspection of Mexican factories and the closing of loopholes that have hampered prosecution of labor violations.

"This new trade deal is a modest improvement," Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., a 2020 presidential candidate, said during a presidential debate in Iowa Tuesday night. "It will give some relief to our farmers. It will give some relief to our workers. I believe we accept that relief, we try to help the people who need help, and we get up the next day and fight for a better trade deal.

"This is a big deal," Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, who served as the U.S. trade representative under President George W. Bush, said on the Senate floor Wednesday. He suggested a potential increase in auto manufacturing jobs important to his state's economy.

The deal has its critics, including environmental groups and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who said it does little to address climate change.

"I will not vote for a trade agreement that does not incorporate very, very strong principles to significantly lower fossil fuel emissions in the world," Sanders said during the Democratic presidential debate in Des Moines on Tuesday.

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Some unions said the deal doesn't go far enough to protect worker rights. The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union said USMCA fails to require strong country-of-origin labeling needed to strengthen food safety and invest in the millions of American jobs that produce our food.

"Consumers have a right to know where their food is from, whether it’s safe and if it’s produced by American workers," UFCW President Marc Perrone said in a statement. "Without strong country-of-origin labeling, consumers will be kept in the dark and America’s food workers will continue to face unfair competition from foreign companies not playing by the same rules."