Vice President Mike Pence visited Sargent Metal Fabricators this week to campaign for passage of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
The agreement was signed by leaders of Canada, Mexico and the United States in November. Mexico’s Senate ratified the agreement in June. It is awaiting approval in Canada and the United States.
During his visit to Anderson, S.C., Pence said President Trump promised to “forge free, fair and reciprocal trade deals that put America first. And we’ve been working to do that from day one. And the results have just been remarkable.”
The vice president said Trump has created 500,000 manufacturing jobs in the last two and a half years, including more than 20,000 in South Carolina.
He said the administration renegotiated a trade agreement with South Korea and announced a new trade deal with Japan.
“And of course, President Donald Trump has put China on notice,” Pence said. “The days of massive trade deficits and intellectual property theft are over.”
He credited Trump with negotiating the what he called the “largest trade deal in American history.”
What is the largest trade deal in American history? The USMCA, which according to the International Trade Commission will add $68 billion to the U.S. economy, is awaiting congressional approval.
“It’s time for Congress to do their job,” Pence said. “To make that happen, though, Congress needs to hear from the American people. And that’s what brought me here to South Carolina, and brought me to New Mexico and to Utah last week. I’ve been traveling all over the country just to make sure that people across this country know what an incredible opportunity we have with the USMCA.”
He implored the American people to call their elected representatives to vote to pass the USMCA, saying it puts American jobs and workers first, unlike the North American Free Trade Agreement.
“More than 70,000 factories closed across America in the years after NAFTA was signed into law,” Pence said.
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The Trump administration is pressing lawmakers to quickly ratify the pact, but Democrats say they will proceed only when their concerns related to labor, enforcement, climate and pharmaceuticals have been addressed. – Reuters
Supporters of USMCA are preparing to make one last push to ratify the agreement before the 2020 election. – Houston Chronicle
The new NAFTA will add about 176,000 jobs and the real GDP will grow by .35% by year six, according to the ITC report. – Washington Post