Press Releases

Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Richard Neal (D-MA)  today issued the following statement after the Trump Administration announced that the United States and Canada reached an agreement on terms, together with terms agreed to earlier with Mexico, to update the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA):

“Last month, I noted that a lot of important work remains to be done in the NAFTA renegotiation.  That is still true today.

“I welcome the announcement by the Administration that the deal now includes Canada.  But our collective examination of the deal will be beginning only now, with the Administration’s publication of new NAFTA text. 

“There are important questions that Members of Congress, stakeholders, and the American people need answered.  Most importantly, we will need to assess whether this agreement makes real improvements to the terms of the existing NAFTA or President Obama’s TPP, especially when it comes to the enforcement and enforceability of the agreement’s provisions, including the provisions that have always been critical to Democratic support – the ones that provide for worker rights and environmental protections. 

“The bar for supporting a new NAFTA will be high.  NAFTA has had many critics over the years and its flaws are well-known.  Like me, many of my colleagues did not support the deal originally.  And those who did will have serious questions that they need answered before doing so again.”

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