USMCA Ratification one step closer to Senate vote

WASHINGTON D.C. - The Senate Finance Committee passed the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, 25-3.   

Now that the Finance Committee has passed the USMCA, speculation begins on how soon the Agreement will get a full Senate vote. 

The US House of Representatives approved the Agreement last month.

The Trump Administration says the deal is a total overhaul of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement and the new deal guarantees, at last,  access to Canadian dairy markets for the Ag sector and also rewrites a myriad of trade rules that benefit agriculture.

“USMCA will benefit America’s farmers, workers, and businesses,” said Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, Chairman of the Finance committee that approved the USMCA, who says they’ll start the Agreement bill markup today.

But the Trump impeachment threatens to slow efforts to quickly pass the trade deal. One Senate supporter said without the Impeachment trial, the Senate could approve the deal in days, rather than weeks.

"It's important to get this and the sooner it gets done, the better,” Grassley told a reporter after the Finance Committee vote.