USMCA likely to pass Senate this week, McConnell says
The House voted 385 to 41 to approve it in December
President Trump speaks on how the USMCA and signing ‘Phase One’ of the China trade deal will impact American jobs.
The Senate will likely approve the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement this week, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday.
Five Senate committees are expected to join the Senate Finance Committee in approving the revamped $1.2 trillion North American trade deal, before all 100 senators vote as one body.
"We are, it looks like, going to be able to process the USMCA here in the Senate this week," McConnell said on Capitol Hill. "That will be good news for the Senate and for the country and something I think we have broad bipartisan agreement on."
McConnell had said before that USMCA consideration would come after an impeachment trial for President Trump, but he said Tuesday that the trade vote will come before the trial begins next week.
Senate approval would send the USMCA to Trump's desk to be signed, the last step before it begins to be implemented. The House voted 385 to 41 to approve it in December.
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USMCA is expected to create around 176,000 new jobs and inject $34 billion into the U.S. auto industry, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told FOX Business' Maria Bartiromo last month, citing International Trade Commission data. He added that as many as 589,000 new jobs could be created within five years.
FILE - President Trump, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, right, and Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto, left, participate in the USMCA signing ceremony. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said it will add 0.5 percent to U.S. GDP, at least.
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Mexico and Canada are the two largest trading partners with the U.S.
It requires 75 percent of automobile components be manufactured in the United States, Canada and Mexico in order to avoid tariffs, and that 40 to 45 percent of automobile parts be made by workers who earn at least $16 an hour by 2023.
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It further opens Canadian markets to U.S. dairy and poultry, a win for American farmers, and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has called the deal "absolute gold standard on digital trade and financial services."
FOX Business' Evie Fordham contributed to this report.