On the heels of announcing articles of impeachment against Donald Trump, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that Democrats had come to an agreement with Trump on the new North American trade pact, inexplicably giving Trump what pundits keep calling a major policy gift on the very same day as they solemnly announced that Trump has committed high crimes and misdemeanors.
The AFL-CIO has endorsed the trade agreement, and, in announcing the deal, Democrats say that it is dramatically improved over what Trump had presented. Announcing that the deal was going to be finalized Tuesday, Pelosi told The Wall Street Journal CEO Council forum on Monday night, "There are those who I read about in one place or another that say, why would you give President Trump a victory? […] Well, why wouldn’t we? This is the right thing to do for our trade situation, for our workers." Asked the same thing at her press conference Tuesday, Pelosi reiterated, "We came a long way from what he originally proposed [...] we're declaring victory for the American worker."
That labor has agreed to it is good. That it does help American farmers is good. That she's literally stepping on top of the very critical and grave impeachment announcement with this, within an hour of revealing the articles, is baffling. Yes, it does belie the Republican trope that Democrats can't both govern and do impeachment at the same time. But it's not like Pelosi's getting any credit for it from Republicans.
The first thing Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross said about it Tuesday morning was, "From their point of view, the timing is quite important, in that here's this devastating report about the FBI ... convenient to have some news [in the USMCA] to distract people." Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was no less generous, saying, "I hope that now that we're here that both chambers will be able to set aside Democrats' impeachment parade long enough to get the peoples' business finally finished."
The deal is done. U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer and White House senior adviser Jared Kushner have gone to Mexico City for a signing ceremony Tuesday, and Politico reports that the vote will happen on Dec. 19, the day after the impeachment vote is likely to be held. According to Politico, Pelosi has "said she doesn't want impeachment to be the last thing members vote on before the holiday recess."
Full details of the agreement are not yet available, but it will maintain tariff-free trade among the U.S., Mexico, and Canada. It includes stricter rules than NAFTA for the preferential treatment among the countries for duties on automobiles, and, reported Politico, "includes modernized digital trade rules and stronger labor and environmental standards" than NAFTA.