Although President Donald Trump signed a new trade deal with Mexico and Canada back in September, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement is still in limbo.
While the Trump administration is pushing for Congress to make the new deal official, some Democrats have expressed concerns that the deal does not address labor requirements to the degree they would like. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement released at the end of May that they would like to ensure the deal works for American workers and farmers.
Ohio's Republican Senator Rob Portman says he has heard positive feedback from Ohio's workforce on the new deal.
"One thing it does is it expands markets for Ohio farmers and Ohio workers who are manufacturing," said Portman. "I was with some people yesterday who are looking forward to having this happen because they could sell more stuff to Mexico, as an example. So, my only hope is that we can get this done quickly."
Ohio's Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown says that he would like to see a stronger emphasis on the issue of companies moving their operations out of the united states.
"We need to stop the outsourcing of jobs that tax and trade law in this country has meant more jobs that move from Lima, or from Defiance, or from Delphos to Mexico and overseas," said Brown. "We need to fix that. We need a trade renegotiated NAFTA that has strong labor enforcement standards."
Canada took steps to officially ratify the new trade deal at the end of May. Mexico's Senate is set to vote on ratification on Tuesday.
