No New NAFTA Deal in 2018

No New NAFTA Deal in 2018

Rick Worthington
Rick Worthington
Farmers and Ranchers are still waiting for some relief they expect will come once the new USMCA deal is ratified and signed by the US, Mexico and Canada.

It now appears the wait will continue a bit longer. Senator Mitch McConnell says Congress will NOT take up the new North American trade pact in 2018.

That is what he recently told Bloomberg News, citing procedural issues.

"That will be a next-year issue because the process we have to go through doesn't allow that to come up before the end of this year," McConnell said.

Senator McConnell also expressed his well wishes to the President on his ongoing negotiations with China.

"I'm not a big fan of tariffs but I'm certainly happy we seem to have settled the situation with Canada and Mexico," McConnell said in the interview. "And if the short-term trade war ends up producing a better relationship with China, that would be great."

Trade with China as well as the USMCA are both believed to be key issues for Farmers and Ranchers moving forward.

The U.S., Mexico and Canada reached an 11th-hour deal late last month to keep much of the old North American Free Trade Agreement alive, with a few distinct changes.

The pact still needs to be approved by each nation's legislatures.

Some Republicans had been pushing for a vote on the deal this year, but it was always unlikely given the remaining priorities for this congressional term.

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