“This is tens of millions of jobs, it is $1.4 trillion worth of the economy, it’s a huge improvement—nobody disagrees with that,” he said during a House Ways and Means hearing.
The longer Congress delays, he warned, the more likely something unexpected will derail the process.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said during a Christian Science Monitor event that morning that House Democrats would not be holding it up.
“There are those on the other side who say we’re holding it up. We’re not. As I said, our people want a better NAFTA [North American Free Trade Agreement],” she said, referring to the USMCA’s predecessor.
She acknowledged, however, that House Democrats are unhappy with the current enforcement mechanisms in the agreement around the environment, labor, and pharmaceuticals.
Lighthizer said that each of those issues could be resolved in half a day if he could sit down with the right people.
“I just need to get somebody I can sit down there that will say ‘yes, this is enough,’” he said during a Senate Finance Committee hearing the day before.
Pelosi has heard his concerns, he says, and arranged for a group of representatives to work with him.
He says he’s hopeful that “substantial” progress can be made in the next few weeks. But it’s unclear when Congress will actually vote on the agreement.
