Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Monday said bringing the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement up for a vote may be a "bitter pill" for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her fellow Democrats, but the matter is too vital to pass up.
"The argument for USMCA is very, very compelling," the Kentucky Republican told CNBC's "Squawk Alley."
It brings "176,000 new jobs, $68 billion increase in gross domestic product. We have 12 million jobs already related to our trade relationship with Canada and Mexico. So I think it is going to be pretty hard for her not to take it up, even though voting for a Trump trade deal, I gather, is a bitter pill for them."
Pelosi, though, opposed Trade Promotion Authority laws back when President Barack Obama was still in office, said McConnell.
"I actually helped President Obama get Trade Promotion Authority over the opposition of Pelosi and [Harry] Reid at that time, so she's not pro-trade," said McConnell.
Meanwhile, the current situation with China has been tough on American agriculture, said McConnell, so he hopes President Donald Trump can get a good outcome.
"The Chinese have been stealing our intellectual property and not playing by the rules for a long time," said McConnell, who with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., pointed out the need for the USMCA in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece Sunday.
"I admire what he is trying to do, but I hope we can get a conclusion to this soon because rural America really needs it, and rural America also needs the USMCA," said McConnell. "I mean, this is a big deal for American agriculture to get this new and improved deal with the Canadians and Mexicans, as well."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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