Press Releases

Today, Ways and Means Ranking Member Richard Neal (D-MA) and Trade Subcommittee Ranking Member Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) demanded Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan (R-WI) clarify what steps he intends for the House of Representatives and the U.S. Congress to take on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) renegotiation during the remainder of this Congress.  

Recalling that three years ago, Speaker Ryan made the case for the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act (TPA) by arguing that TPA puts Congress in charge of trade negotiations, Neal and Pascrell asked Speaker Ryan to explain what Congress’s next steps are on the NAFTA renegotiation, noting that “NAFTA is almost 25 years old.  It fails to reflect the economy of today. And it has failed too many American workers, families, and communities.  We cannot afford to sit back and be satisfied with the status quo. We, and the American people, await your answers eagerly.”

On May 9 of this year, Speaker Ryan set a May 17 deadline for the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to submit notice of its intent to sign a new NAFTA agreement although, as Neal and Pascrell noted, “TPA does not provide for a hard deadline and many of the TPA timelines set out maximum time frames that provide for a certain amount of flexibility.” Despite Speaker Ryan’s deadline, and the fact that the Speaker adjusted the deadline by another two weeks yesterday, USTR has not submitted any notifications to Congress and, after an intense period of negotiations, the NAFTA negotiations appear to have lost momentum since the Speaker’s remarks last week.  Neal and Pascrell wrote: “Noting that in the last 24 hours, you moved the goal posts on your own deadline by a seemingly arbitrary two weeks, at this juncture, we write to ask you, as the author of TPA, what happens now?” 

After sending the letter to Speaker Ryan, Pascrell added: “I welcome continued negotiations on NAFTA and reject Speaker Ryan’s attempts to impose an arbitrary deadline. We need a good deal, not a quick deal. NAFTA has failed too many American families for the past 25 years to not get this right. I appreciate Ambassador Lighthizer’s attempts to make comprehensive changes to create a new template for U.S. trade that focuses less on multinational corporations and more on boosting jobs and wage opportunities for families and workers. I remain optimistic that we can get there – but we need to continue the work. I plan to continue consultations with USTR until we reach an amenable deal that will stop outsourcing and improve the outlook for workers both here and abroad.”

Full text of the letter is available here:

Neal and Pascrell Letter to Speaker Ryan re NAFTA Next Steps May 18 2018.pdf

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