WHITE HOUSE PREPS FORMAL NAFTA NOTICE: The Trump administration has drafted its notification to Congress saying it intends to renegotiate NAFTA, two House aides told our friends at Morning Trade — a formality required before a statutorily mandated 90-day consultation period can begin and a sign that the White House is moving closer to fulfilling its pledge to sit down with Canada and Mexico. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and other senior-level members of the administration also met this week with members of the House Advisory Group on Negotiations, which was created under Trade Promotion Authority to consult with the administration on, among other things, negotiating strategies and specific objectives to pursue in pending and future talks.
‘A sense of urgency’: As for when the formal notice may be sent, Ross “expressed a sense of urgency,” said Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), who sits on the advisory panel, though he added that if a specific date was mentioned, he did not hear it. Ross, who was joined at the House meeting by acting U.S. Trade Representative Stephen Vaughn and deputy general counsel Maria Pagan, is also required under fast-track procedures to meet with the Senate Advisory Group on Negotiations before the formal notification is sent, but that meeting has yet to be scheduled, an administration official said.
ROSS: PROCUREMENT IS ‘AT THE TOP OF THE PRESIDENT’S LIST’: Addressing “Buy America” provisions, particularly as they relate to transportation issues, are among some of President Donald Trump’s top trade-related priorities, Ross told DeFazio during the advisory meeting. “I asked him about, first, transportation issues, protecting the ‘Buy America’ procurement in transportation — which are the strongest ‘Buy America’ requirements in any branch of the government — and he said that was certainly at the top of the president’s list,” DeFazio said. “I said, ‘Good.'”
Let’s not forget the Mexican trucking program: Another topic that could be on the administration’s radar for a NAFTA rewrite: a controversial Mexican trucking program that allows Mexican trucks to roll through the United States. DeFazio, who has long opposed the provision, said he raised the idea of “in a rewritten NAFTA, saying that you have to have true equivalence instead of theoretical equivalence” of standards for drivers to meet.
Congressman Cuellar has been a big supporter of US-Mexico trade. Recently he wrote in an op-ed in The Hill:
“Thanks to NAFTA, Canada and Mexico are our nation’s top two export markets, and two of our top three total trading partners. Canadian and Mexican customers buy U.S. products and help drive the American economy. Our home state of Texas is the perfect example of the success of this deal. Texas exports to Mexico have increased by 363.8 percent since NAFTA went into effect. Last year, trade activity through our 29 ports of entry supported more than one and a half million Texas jobs. The five ports in my home city of Laredo alone account for more than $52 billion of the state’s gross domestic product (GDP).
NAFTA has delivered value to American consumers and provided opportunities for American businesses; eliminating it would be dangerous to our state’s prosperity and to the national economy. However, there is room to update the 23-year-old deal for the 21st century.”
