(The Center Square) – During President Donald Trump’s first term, one policy that united Pennsylvania lawmakers on both sides of the aisle was the effort to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement, known as NAFTA.
In 2019, every single member of Pennsylvania’s U.S. House delegation voted in favor of USMCA, which aimed to reform trade policy between the United States, Mexico, and Canada.
“The USMCA is the largest, fairest, most balanced, and modern trade agreement ever achieved. There’s never been anything like it,” Trump said when he signed it into law in January 2020.
Although the agreement isn’t set to expire until July 2036, regular review of the terms and the countries to negotiate every six years is in place, as the first six-year term ends at the beginning of July.
On Wednesday, Trump opened the door to not renewing the trade deal that he signed into law in 2020.
“I don’t know that I’m going to renew it because to be honest with you, United States does much better,” Trump said from his Oval Office desk. “We don’t need anything that Canada has. We don’t need anything that Mexico has, but they need everything that we have.”
The Center Square contacted every member of the state’s congressional delegation, asking the same two questions: What does the lawmaker think of the USMCA and does that lawmaker think the USMCA should be renewed.
Those who replied said they wanted to see the USMCA enhanced, not abandoned.
U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-2nd District, who was a vocal critic of NAFTA, voted in favor of the USMCA.
“USMCA improved many of the failures of NAFTA,” Boyle said to the Center Square. “But it did not do enough to address the myriad challenges faced by American workers.”
“Now, President Trump’s chaotic trade policies are making things even worse,” he continued. “As a senior member of the Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee, I believe it is vital for Congress to use this opportunity to make improvements to USMCA that benefit American workers, American consumers, and American manufacturers.”
U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser, R-9th District, is a staunch ally of Trump and voted to pass the USMCA.
“The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement was negotiated during President Trump’s first term to put Americans first and secured important protections for our farmers and manufacturers,” Meuser said to the Center Square. “As with the many trade agreements he has successfully negotiated, President Trump takes a thoughtful America First approach to free and fair trade policy, that means both America and our partners are treated fairly.”
“The six-year review provides an opportunity to keep the core tenets of USMCA intact while making targeted improvements, particularly in agriculture,” Meuser continued. “Any potential changes should build on the agreement’s success and further strengthen Pennsylvania’s farmers, manufacturers, and workers. This cultivates an international economy focused on correcting trade imbalances, advancing American businesses, and protecting American jobs.”
U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans, D-3rd District, also voted to pass the USMCA.
He told the Center Square that he has a “generally positive view” of the trade agreement.
“House Democrats successfully insisted in 2019 on strengthening the labor and environmental protections from what the Trump administration had negotiated,” Evans said. “As a member of the Ways and Means Committee, which oversees trade, I’m proud to have been part of that effort.”
Evans believes USMCA should be renewed.
“There are areas where it can be improved, and I’m open to that, but Trump’s chaotic, belligerent approach to tariffs and our foreign partners in general has hurt our businesses and American families and households,” Evans said. “We are all paying the price at the grocery store, for example. Canceling this agreement with two of the biggest markets for American goods and services would be ‘America Last.’”
U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio, D-17th District, was not in office during the USMCA vote. However, he’s been one of the most outspoken members of his party with regards to trade policy since he was elected to represent the district in western Pennsylvania, with Semafor even dubbing him a “pro-tariff Democrat.”
“NAFTA was a massive betrayal of American workers and industry. And NAFTA 2.0 (the USMCA) has failed to fix so many of the problems stemming from NAFTA: the nation’s trade deficit has expanded under the USMCA, and we’ve lost tens of thousands of domestic manufacturing jobs,” Deluzio said to the Center Square. “Meanwhile, Mexico has added hundreds of thousands of new, low-wage manufacturing jobs since USCMA and remains a place where other countries like China take advantage of loopholes to gain access to the North American free trade block.”
“Pennsylvanians know how important it is to get this right—because we’ve seen how it can go very wrong,” he continued. “We must have industrial and trade policies that can deliver good-paying jobs and restore America’s manufacturing leadership.”
On the question if the USMCA should be renewed?
“It should be renegotiated with important fixes to support America’s workers and industries,” Deluzio said. “We should fix the USMCA to force companies seeking its benefits to agree to higher wages and stronger labor rights enforcement, to pay for their pollution costs in Mexico, and to stop Chinese firms from using it to obtain duty-free access to the United States.”
Gov. Josh Shapiro even addressed the matter north of the border on Wednesday during a joint event with Ontario Premier Doug Ford.
Ford, who recently made a visit to the United States, described the discussion revolving around USMCA as one for the federal government and the prime minister, but argued that both countries do need each other for trade.
Shapiro said he wants to make sure that the USMCA is strengthened to be “fair across the border and to ensure that both countries can benefit from it.”
“It is critically important that we find ways to trade together, and it is critically important that we find ways to do that in a manner that supports our citizens, that benefits Pennsylvanians, and benefits the people of Ontario,” Shapiro said. “And I believe that this process was laid out in a way where it would have an opportunity to make tweaks to make changes at this moment.”
“I do not believe that the President is right in suggesting that we don’t need each other,” he continued. “I think our economies are linked and they should be linked, but they should be done in a way that is mutually beneficial.”
In 2019, then-U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, a Democrat, voted “yes” on the deal by Trump, while then GOP U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey voted against it.
Pennsylvania’s current delegation in the U.S. Senate, John Fetterman, a Democrat, and Dave McCormick, a Republican, did not respond to a request for comment from the Center Square.
Canada has urged both Mexico and the United States to renew the agreement for another 16 years before July 1, according to The Hill, as the deal is set to automatically expire on July 1, 2036, unless all three countries agree to formally renew it for an additional 16-year term.
The next round of talks, according to The Hill, between the countries on the trade agreement is scheduled for the week of July 20 in Mexico City.
