Donald Trump, Optimist About Impending T-mec Agreement

Donald Trump, Optimist About Impending T-MEC Agreement

The president of the United States, Donald Trump, was optimistic on Monday about an imminent green light to the adjustments to the text of the new US trade agreement T-MEC, which could allow the ratification of the agreement signed last year to replace NAFTA.

"I am hearing very good things," Trump told reporters when asked about the fate of the Treaty between the United States, Mexico and Canada (T-MEC).

The pact, which should replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in force since 1994, was sealed last November, but has only been confirmed so far by the Mexican Senate last June, while Canada said that would approve immediately after the United States.

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In Washington now there seems to be white smoke between the White House and the Democratic opposition in Congress, which controls the House of Representatives.

"We are doing very well with the T-MEC, the unions and others tell me that it looks good," Trump said. "I have been told that things are going well and that important progress has been made in the last 48 hours," he added.

"If they put it to a vote, it will be approved," the US president predicted.

In Mexico, his counterpart Andr茅s Manuel L贸pez Obrador urged the president of the lower house of the United States and leader of the Democrats in Congress, Nancy Pelosi, to put the T-MEC under consideration.

"It is time to make the decision because otherwise it will approach the electoral processes," L贸pez Obrador said at a press conference referring to the 2020 presidential elections in the United States, which would complicate the deadlines to specify the entry in force of the T-MEC.

If approved by the US House of Representatives, the process is expected to be agile in the Senate, where the Republican Trump Party has a majority.

From Ottawa, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also said they were improving the chances of an agreement on the T-MEC.

"We are working hard and we hope to get ratification soon," he told reporters.

Spiny points

How close is the revised T-MEC text to be voted on in the United States Congress?

The Democrats of the US Congress blocked the ratification of the T-MEC amid questions from the unions, who want greater guarantees of compliance with the Mexican labor reform required by the agreement to avoid unfair competition with US workers.

Citing unidentified sources, Fox Business said that an agreement had been reached on the supervision of Mexican labor laws, a cause of friction between the White House and the Democrats and between the United States and Mexico, and that a definitive text could emerge in the next 24 hours, which would allow the three countries to ratify the modified treaty.

According to Fox Business, Mexicans have now agreed that the implementation of the agreement be supervised by "a neutral party."

In Mexico, Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard, and the main trade negotiator, Jes煤s Seade, are expected to give a press conference this afternoon.

The CNBC network said that the White House and the Democrats are "close to an agreement of principle", so the vote in the US Congress to approve the T-MEC could take place on December 18.

But a senior Democratic adviser in Congress told AFP that lawmakers are still studying the new text. "There is no agreement to announce at the moment," he said on condition of anominate.

L贸pez Obrador rejected a proposal last week for US inspectors to control the implementation of the new Mexican labor regulations.

Ebrard also announced on Sunday that he would object to US proposals on steel and aluminum for the production of automobiles under the agreement, considering that they would put Mexico at a disadvantage.

The terms of the T-MEC require that Mexico obtain 70% of the steel for automotive production in North America. But Ebrard said that Mexico will oppose that provision coming into effect before five years.

As for aluminum, Mexico will not accept "any term" since it does not have the recourse of bauxite, the main source of aluminum, Ebrard said in a meeting with senators.

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