Tennessee's federal lawmakers are celebrating the compromise reached Tuesday over President Donald Trump's trade deal with Mexico and Canada.
It came after final negotiations by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, and Trump administration officials over the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USCMA), which updates the North American Free Trade Agreement.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., speaks at a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2019, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)Changes include compromises with Democrats on labor and environmental rules as well as on prescription drugs and other snags.
U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee, told reporters the "framework on this is much better than NAFTA" and will benefit state farmers as well as auto, chemical and other manufacturers and logistics companies such as Federal Express.
"You can see very quickly how vitally important this is to us," Blackburn said.
President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2019, in Hershey, Pa. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tennessee, said "updating NAFTA makes sense, and the agreement announced today will continue to raise family incomes and create even more good-paying jobs, which is good news for Tennessee auto workers and farmers."
Republican U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleishmann of Ooltewah tweeted that "@POTUS continues to deliver on promises to create a better future for the American worker, business owner, and family. The #USMCA is another example of that. Today's announcement of a finalized trade deal is a major victory for @realDonaldTrump and East Tennesseans."
In his own tweet, U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper, a Nashville Democrat, said Democrats reached a deal with the U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer "to improve the USMCA. I look forward to its swift passage."
U.S. Sen. David Perdue, R-Georgia, praised Trump, saying the president "is fighting for American workers, farmers, and manufacturers, and there is no better evidence of this than his commitment to negotiating better trade deals with countries across the world."
Calling USMCA a "groundbreaking deal that will dramatically improve the way we do business with our closest trading partners," Perdue said it should generate nearly 180,000 new jobs and increase U.S. GDP by about $68 billion.
Perdue then levelled a blast at House majority Democrats, who are in the midst of impeachment proceedings against Trump over his dealings with Ukraine.
"American people should be outraged that U.S. House Democrats have held this bipartisan deal hostage while they aimlessly pursued their illegitimate impeachment trial," Perdue said. "It should not have taken more than a year to get to this point, but finally, Congress and the Trump Administration will have the opportunity to deliver this huge win for the entire country."
While Pelosi said she hoped the USCMA can be approved before year's end, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, was cited in The Hill newspaper saying it would likely need to wait until 2020 and come after Trump's expected Senate impeachment trial.
Contact Andy Sher at asher@timesfreepress.com or 615-255-0550. Follow on Twitter @AndySher1.