United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement Implementation Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. DeLAURO. Madam Speaker, I was honored to be appointed to the Speaker's working group charged with renegotiating the deeply flawed NAFTA agreement that the President signed in 2018. It enshrined the failed status quo that had hurt American workers while extending monopoly protections for pharmaceutical companies that would lock in high medicine prices.

I was focused on crafting effective and meaningful standards to protect labor rights, constructing an enforcement mechanism for the U.S. and Mexico, strengthening and protecting environmental standards, and protecting access to affordable medicines.

I was pleased the principles we presented to and, in many instances, forced on the USTR are reflected in the final agreement. Our gains include a labor-specific enforcement mechanism for new labor standards, a review body to ensure Mexico is meeting its obligations, penalties for goods and services not produced in compliance, and robust resources for monitoring and enforcement.

Despite the President's rhetoric, this agreement will not bring back U.S. manufacturing jobs or undo the damage of outsourcing provisions in the Republican tax law. Despite our best efforts, it lacks more robust climate standards, labor and environmental terms, and protections for food and product safety. So, it is not the model for the future.

Wage stagnation in America is not the inevitable result of globalization and technology. Special interests have shaped government policies that have held down wages and increased inequality.

Nobel-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz said: ``Inequality is not inevitable. It is a choice we make.''

We made progress on this agreement. It is a framework to build on. I support the agreement and pledge to continue our work addressing globalization and trade policy.

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