[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 5 (Thursday, January 9, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S108-S110]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



              United States-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement

  Madam President, shortly we will be considering the United States-
Mexico-Canada Agreement, the USMCA. It updates and replaces the North 
American Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA. I support the USMCA and supported 
it earlier this week, when it passed the Senate Finance Committee on a 
strong 25-to-3 vote. This strong vote was possible because of the hard 
work of Democrats in the House and Senate to make this agreement the 
strongest, fully enforceable, pro-environment, pro-labor trade 
agreement the United States has ever entered into.
  First let me talk about why I think trade is important. I would point 
out to my colleagues that the maiden speech I gave in the House of 
Representatives when I was first elected was on trade and the 
importance of trade agreements. I recognized how important the Port of 
Baltimore was to our economy and how important free trade and trade was 
to the Port of Baltimore. So, clearly, trade agreements are critically 
important to the people of Maryland, and they are important to this 
country.
  First, international trade can lead to better economic outcomes. From 
leveling the playing field for American businesses to ensuring our 
trading partners have adequate labor standards to make competition 
fair, trade can be the catalyst for these outcomes. Second, trade can 
raise the standard of living for citizens in this country.

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  Tariffs can disproportionally harm lower income Americans. If the 
cost of things like milk, soap, or school supplies goes up because of 
higher tariffs, it doesn't mean these families will stop buying these 
essentials. It means they will have less to spend on other essentials 
they depend on to keep their families safe and healthy, like clothes 
and medicine.
  Trade agreements allow us to ensure a zero or low tariff price for 
these items on which Americans depend, which raises the standard of 
living for all of us.
  Third, trade is important to U.S. foreign policy. The world can be 
better, safer, and a fairer place when we are working with our allies. 
Trade agreements ensure the rest of the world starts to act a little 
bit more as we do, with our values.
  This administration's harmful and nonstrategic trade policy has 
strained our relationship with our allies, including Canada and Mexico. 
I think it has been misguided and damaging to the future of our 
country, but this agreement has the potential to begin a healing 
process with our North American neighbors: Canada and Mexico.
  As we move forward with trade agreements, it is important that our 
values are represented in those agreements, that we strengthen American 
values. I support good governance and protecting workers and our 
environment, and I am pleased that they are included in such 
agreements.
  For more than 25 years since the enactment of NAFTA, our economy has 
changed dramatically, from the proliferation of the Internet, which has 
changed how businesses can easily be connected to the rest of the 
world, to how consumers shop, compare prices, and buy goods and 
services from all around the world, and it is clear that NAFTA is a 
trade agreement that didn't foresee these changes with our two largest 
trading partners. In addition, over time, we identified weaknesses in 
NAFTA and other free trade agreements that needed to be addressed.
  All that is to say that NAFTA is overdue for an update. For the past 
2\1/2\ years, the administration, congressional leaders, and our 
trading partners have been engaged in the process to update NAFTA to be 
a trade agreement for the 21st century. In late 2018, an agreement was 
reached between the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Importantly, 
reaching this agreement alleviated the threat of this administration to 
unilaterally withdraw from NAFTA.
  The agreement reached in 2018 was, in my view, incomplete and largely 
just continued the existing NAFTA, but it did have some provisions 
important to me and my constituents in the State of Maryland.
  Maryland is home to a thriving poultry industry. The agreement 
includes new market access to Canada for U.S. poultry. Maryland farms 
produced $1 billion worth of chickens in 2017, surpassing that 
milestone for the first time. Our poultry industry production grew 12 
percent from 2016 to 2017.
  The growth in value came even as the amount of chickens produced on 
the Eastern Shore declined by about 10,000 pounds to about 1.84 million 
pounds. Maryland is the Nation's ninth largest producer of broiler 
chickens.
  This additional market access is good for Maryland's poultry industry 
because it means more poultry produced in Maryland will make its way to 
Canada and Mexico, creating jobs and supporting the economy here 
locally.
  The agreement also included a few provisions that are very important 
for small businesses. Most important to many small businesses is a 
provision that raises the level of the so-called de minimis customs and 
tariff treatment of goods. The de minimis system is important to small 
businesses. For example, small sellers who list their goods on eBay or 
Amazon frequently ship to consumers not in the United States. Under the 
de minimis system, if a shipment under the de minimis level crosses the 
border, it enjoys expedited customs and lower tariff treatment than 
larger shipments would.
  Under this agreement, the United States agreed to increase its 
customs de minimis levels to $800 for exports to Mexico and Canada, and 
Mexico and Canada have made favorable changes to their systems. As 
ranking member of the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, 
this was a welcome change to ensure small businesses aren't bogged down 
by unnecessary redtape.
  The agreement's small business chapter also includes support for 
small businesses to promote cross-border cooperation, tools for small 
businesses to identify potential opportunities and increase 
competitiveness, and public-sharing tools to promote access to capital. 
These are important issues to highlight for small businesses.
  Finally, the initial agreement included a landmark achievement for 
the first time in U.S. trade history: It included a full chapter on 
anti-corruption.
  During 2015, when the Senate was considering so-called fast-track 
trade promotion authority, under which the USMCA is now being 
considered, I authored a principal negotiating objective in the trade 
promotion authority legislation that requires any trade agreement the 
USTR negotiates to emphasize good governance, human rights, and the 
rule of law. These are our values. These values need to be reflected in 
our trade agreement. It is an important step toward a level playing 
field for trade with the United States for our farmers, our producers, 
and our manufacturers. We know our system is a fair system, but in so 
many other countries we deal with, that is not the case.
  This principal negotiating objective really represents an enduring 
theme in the way I approach trade. I believe we should use the economic 
power of the United States to advance human rights and good governance 
in other countries that may comparatively struggle on that front. I 
also believe we should not have favorable free-trade agreements with 
countries that do not believe human rights and good governance are 
important to uphold.
  Because of my focus on this requirement in 2015 and thanks to USTR 
Ambassador Robert Lighthizer, the USMCA is a trade agreement that for 
the first time includes a chapter on anti-corruption and good 
governance. This is our first agreement that includes such a chapter, 
and I anticipate this will be the template for any future trade 
agreement involving the United States.
  The USMCA's anti-corruption chapter includes a number of commitments 
on transparency, integrity, and accountability of public institutions 
and officials.
  First, on anti-corruption laws, under the USMCA, countries are 
required to outlaw embezzlement and solicitation of bribes by public 
officials and must make it a criminal offense for anyone to offer 
bribes to public officials to influence their official duties or to 
officials of foreign governments or international organizations to gain 
a business advantage.
  I know that sounds like a no-brainer. Why wouldn't all countries 
already have those types of laws? But the reality is that they don't. 
The reality is that many of our trading partners have corrupt systems, 
and that puts American companies at a disadvantage. But also, we should 
be using our economic power to advance our values. This chapter carries 
that out.
  Second, on transparency and accountability, under the USMCA, 
countries must take proactive steps against corruption by implementing 
and maintaining accounting and auditing standards and measures that 
prohibit the creation of false transaction records and off-the-book 
accounts.
  Third, the USMCA requires parties to create codes of conduct and 
procedures for removal of corrupt officials, as well as adopt measures 
requiring officials to disclose outside activities, investments, and 
gifts that could create conflicts of interest.
  Fourth, on public engagement, under USMCA, countries must agree to 
promote the engagement of the business community, NGOs, and civil 
societies in anti-corruption efforts through information campaigns, 
developing ethics programs, and protecting the freedom to publish 
information about corruption.
  Finally, on good regulatory practices, under the USMCA, countries 
must follow a transparent regulatory rulemaking process, which the 
agreement clarifies includes publishing the proposed regulation with 
its regulatory impact assessment, an explanation of the proposed 
regulation, a description

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of the underlining data and other information, and the contact 
information of responsible officials.
  USMCA further requires parties to follow the U.S.-like system of 
notice and comment periods for proposed regulatory rulemaking in which 
the regulators are required to consider comments of any interested 
party, regardless of nationality, which means Americans will have input 
in the regulatory process in Canada and Mexico, which has direct effect 
on our access to their markets.
  The countries also agreed to publish an early planning document of 
regulations the country intends to revise in the next 12 months and to 
ensure that regulations are written in a clear, concise, and 
understandable manner.
  The USMCA encourages authorities to consider the impact of new 
regulations when they are being developed, with particular attention to 
the benefits and costs of regulations and the feasibility of other 
approaches.
  This is an incredibly important achievement, and it is important as a 
model for U.S. agreements going forward.
  By including the good governance and anti-corruption provisions in 
the USMCA, we are signaling to our trading partners and the rest of the 
world what our values are--yes, economic values, but also the 
principles we advance.
  However, with these good achievements in the original USMCA, the 
agreement did not go far enough. There was no deadline to getting it 
done quickly, so we chose to get it done right.
  I wanted to see strict, high standards in the USMCA on labor, 
environment, and more. Democrats were united in this message. Democrats 
worked behind the scenes with labor and environmental stakeholders to 
identify issues and create solutions that could make this agreement one 
we could support.
  Do I think the USMCA lives up to these standards? Yes, I do. The 
updated USMCA includes important provisions regarding labor standards, 
which have the potential to improve working conditions and create a 
more level playing field for U.S. workers.
  These changes include the Brown-Wyden rapid-response mechanism, which 
enables the United States to take swift enforcement action against 
imports from individual facilities, and stronger labor obligations in 
the agreement. The changes include a number of other important labor 
issues, including strengthened labor obligations, new labor-monitoring 
mechanisms, and extra funding for labor efforts. The implementing bill 
includes new mechanisms and resources to ensure that the U.S. 
Government effectively monitors Mexico's compliance with the labor 
obligations.
  The result of these labor additions earned support for the USMCA by 
the AFL-CIO, United Steelworkers, and the International Brotherhood of 
Teamsters. Truly, this is an agreement that is good for labor.
  Another critical aspect of the USMCA is that it ensures that our 
trading partners meet the environmental standards of this country. We 
want a level playing field. We also want to help our environment.
  With respect to the environment, the updated USMCA is a significant 
improvement over the original NAFTA. The USMCA incorporates 
environmental obligations into the agreement itself, which are subject 
to dispute settlement, unlike the original NAFTA, which only included 
an unenforceable side-agreement.
  The USMCA includes upgraded commitments on topics including fisheries 
subsidies, marine litter, and conservation of marine species.
  Democrats secured amendments to the agreement, as well as provisions 
in the implementing bill, to strengthen the ability of the United 
States to monitor and enforce the obligations and ensure that the 
parties are bound to their environmental obligations.
  I want to acknowledge my colleague Senator Carper, the ranking member 
of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which I also sit 
on. Together, we pushed to improve this agreement with respect to the 
enforceability of the environmental provisions. We were happy to see 
this agreement include many of the things Senator Carper and I worked 
and pushed to have done.
  Included in the new USMCA is a new trigger mechanism to give 
environmental stakeholders an expanded role in environmental 
enforcement matters and create accountability for the administration 
with regard to seeking environmental enforcement actions under USMCA.
  Under the existing NAFTA, any person in a NAFTA country can make a 
submission to an intergovernmental organization established by NAFTA to 
address environmental issues, alleging that a NAFTA partner is not 
living up to its environmental obligations. You can do that. 
Submissions undergo a public factfinding process by the head of that 
body, which produces a factual record if the allegation is found to 
have merit.
  Here is where the problem comes in: Once the production of that 
factual record is done, there is no enforcement mechanism. We have 
corrected that. Through this new trigger mechanism in the USMCA that 
was developed, if a factual record is produced, the new Interagency 
Environment Committee, headed by the USTR, will have 30 days to review 
the record and make a determination as to whether to pursue enforcement 
actions under USMCA against the violating country. If the committee, 
headed by the USTR, decides not to pursue enforcement actions under 
USMCA, within 30 days after its determination, the committee must 
provide Congress with a written explanation and justification of its 
decision. This is a huge step forward in quickly identifying and 
addressing any environmental action that needs to be taken under this 
agreement.
  In addition, the agreement includes an additional $88 million of 
funding appropriated over the next 4 years for environmental monitoring 
and enforcement to ensure that the goals of the USMCA's environment 
chapter can be realized. This includes $40 million appropriated over 
the next 4 years for the new environment sub-fund Senator Carper and I 
pushed to create under the USTR's existing Trade Enforcement Trust 
Fund, which will be dedicated to enforcement of the USMCA's 
environmental obligations.
  As I mentioned, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement establishes 
an Interagency Environment Committee, led by the USTR, which will 
coordinate U.S. Government efforts to monitor implementation of its 
environmental goals. It also establishes up to three new environment-
focused attaches in Mexico City to help ensure Mexico is living up to 
its environmental obligations. It includes new reporting requirements 
to regularly assess the status of Mexico's laws and regulations that 
are intended to implement its environmental obligations to help ensure 
Mexico is living up to its commitments.
  We believe the USMCA is a strong, enforceable agreement that makes 
positive strides in protecting the environment. As this agreement is 
implemented, I will be watching to ensure that the other parties to 
this agreement live up to the promises they are making in this bill.
  In closing, I support the USMCA because it will help raise the living 
standards for Marylanders, cuts redtape for small businesses, and 
unites us with our allies. The provisions of the USMCA protect the 
environment, help labor organizing efforts, fights for good governance 
and against corruption, and is enforceable.
  I urge my colleagues to support the legislation when it comes to the 
floor.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Colorado.