Committee so i would like to welcome senator sass to the committee. And hes in joining the committee on one of the most important pieces of legislation we can do this year and im glad to have senator sass as a new member of the committee. On december 13th, 2019, the senate received or the house of representatives received the bill to implement the usmca agreement. Under fast track rules, the committee cannot amend the bill. We will vote today only on whether to report the bill. Before we vote, senators who wish to make statements may do so. In the interest of time, i ask that the statements be limited to three minutes and i know that my staff has had a discussion with everybodys staff about that. I hope that that will be satisfactory to the members. We do have a vote schedule at 12 15 so i think its important that we get this done this morning. I think we can. After statements im going to introduce staff and Administration Officials here to provide an overview of the bill and answer any questions and then we will then vote on the bill. President trump promised to deliver a strong updated trade agreement with canada and mexico that would reflect the realities of the 21st amendment. He made this an issue in his campaign, so i suppose this has been an issue thats been around now for more than three years. He promised that it would command broad support, and i think President Trump has delivered. The house of representatives voted overwhelmingly and in a bipartisan way support of the usmca bill. Now the senate must act. Im confident that this bill is going to make it to the president s desk, and i would like to express a few reasons why i think that way. Usmca will bring much needed certainty and real benefits to americas farmers, workers, an businesses. Farmers are Getting Better and more reliable Market Access, which farmers badly need. Workers will see thousands of new jobs, particularly in highwage manufacturing industries. Businesses will have an agreement that reflect the realities of modern commerce, including for the 1. 3 trillion u. S. Digital economy, usmca correct the enforcement flaws that very much plagued nafta and ensures that the parties will be held accountable to their commitments. The usmca has the support of hundreds of organizations representing a wide range of the economy agriculture groups, business groups, labor groups. I would like to enter into the record a nonexhaustive list of representatives of this support and ill do that without objection. The road that we traveled to arrive at this meeting today tested my patience at times, as an example, taking three or four months to get the president to renew remove steel and aluminum tariffs, i dont know how many white house meetings i attended where that was an issue, and i kind of got tired of hearing the words i like tariffs. And there are some aspects of this bill that i dont particularly like, but as i reflect on how we got here, im proud of the hard work of many individuals that made it possible to achieve a strong agreement and a bill that could garner broad support and i would put at the top of that list the hard work that ambassador lighthizer put into it. The bill before us today has something in it for everyone and its not often that we can say that about an implementing bill. I ask my colleagues to vote with me to favorably report the bill because i would like to get this to the president s desk. Senator wyden. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. Happy new year to all and look forward to working with all our colleagues. I have been trying to touch base with senator sass and we look forward to having him here. This morning the finance Committee Kicks off 2020 with the new nafta. The last few years have delivered one trade gut punch after another to americas exporters, particularly our farmers and our manufacturers. It began when then president ial candidate trump talked about pulling the United States out of nafta. And that set the tone. Its been followed by the administration driving away a number of our traditional economic allies. Three years of chaos, trade chaos, has hurt investment in america and caused farm bankruptcies to surge. Many foreign markets are closed off to american exports today than they were on the day that the president took office. The finance committee now has an opportunity to provide a real measure of certainty and predictability to americans who want to grow things here, who want to make things here, add value to them here, and ship those products around the world. This is what is on offer this morning. The new nafta makes a few key changes to our approach to trade that im going to address briefly. First on the enforcement issue, year after year, decade after decade, president s and lawmakers of both Political Parties have paid lip service to the important of enforcing trade laws. But all along what this country did on enforcement was just too weak. It didnt have any teeth. It was too slow to protect american jobs from trade cheats. In my view, workers saw through all this lip service a long time ago. When the Trump Administration sent up the first version of the new nafta agreement, it sure just looked like more of the status quo. It didnt cut it. The language that they offered on enforcement basically didnt enforce anything. It was just pretty much business as usual. So i, as ranking democrat on this side, reached out to our colleague from ohio, senator brown, who has been a crusader for tough labor Law Enforcement as long as anybody in public life. We said we were going to fix it, and senator brown and i reached out to many of you, many of us on this side contributed to the enforcement package and we talked to pane on tmany on the e and senator brown and i developed a proposal thats all about putting more power directly in the hands of American Workers and American Businesses that can fight back when theyre getting ripped off by trade cheats. It responds to what we actually heard in our communities. Its a whole lot faster than what we had before. Its a whole lot stronger than what we had before. What senator brown and i came up with is about putting trade enforcement boots on the ground helping to identify when factories in mexico violate labor rules. Then our country can penalize the violators, protect the american jobs they tried to undercut. The enforcement process will take a fraction of the time it has in the past. No more forcing American Businesses and workers to wait around for what seems like eons, while trade cheats rip them off. So after senator brown and i did that, we took our proposal over to our colleagues in the house and we made it clear we wanted to work with them, we wanted input, support, and after we did that, we went to the Trump Administration and said if you want our support on the new nafta you have to build on the tough trade enforcement proposals that we have been suggesting. We said this is a prerequisite, this tough trade Law Enforcement is a prerequisite to getting nafta done right. When you combine this all in approach on enforcement with new commitments, labor rights and environment, you also shut down the corporate race to the bottom on cheap wages and lack standards. Its about raising everybody else to our standards and taking action when they fall short. So i especially want to thank senator brown. Im sure well hear from him, for his leadership. Let me make clear while he and i have our names on this enforcement package, i can look right down the row literally, senator carp, bennett, every one of these colleagues contributed to this package and i know a number of republicans have an interest in these issues as well. I want to wrap up with some comments with respect to something nobody talked about when the first nafta came up, and thats technology and digital trade. Digital trade wasnt a part of the original nafta because it basically didnt exist when nafta was first negotiated. Everybody in this room carries a smartphone that would have met the definition of a super computer back in the early 1990s. But when it comes to rules regarding digital trade and tech, our trade laws have remained stuck in the mindset of decades ago. That is a problem today because the internet is now the shipping lane of the 21st century. Obviously technology and digital trade are right at the center of a modern economy. They account for millions of good paying jobs in our country. And most important, technology is woven into just about every major american industry. Its woven too autos, its woven into manufacturing, health care. Farming. You can go one after another. When you talk about fighting for new rules on digital trade, you are talking about kreegt and protecting creating and protecting red white and blue jobs in a whole host of important, goodpaying industries. The new nafta will fight back against trade cheats who want to eat the seed corn of this technological treasure trove, this innovation we have seen in tech. It will do more to protect our intellectual property and protect American Companies from being shaken down for their data, by including established law colleagues, it will help guarantee that Small Technology entrepreneurs have a shot at Building Successful Companies in a field now dominated by a small number of goliaths. On agriculture, new nafta helps us send more of our dairy to canada, more of our wine will make it to shelves and stores abroad. It ends harmful discrimination against wheat grown here. So these are all significant areas of improvement. In my home state, one out of four jobs be revolves around trade. The trade jobs often pay better than do the nontrade jobs and almost all of them are small and medium sized. I want to wrap up with just two very quick points, mr. Chairman. First, i think we all ought to thank ambassador Bob Lighthizer who i call the hardest working man in the trade agreement business. He has talked with a lot of us on multiple occasions. He is a straight shooter. You cant ask for more than that. Colleagues, i guess thats what you get when you have an alum of the Senate Finance committee,le forrer staff director. I also want to see i see senator sass, been trying to call you and welcome you. Were glad youre here. Im going to close with one last point. The legislation may be this bill were taking up today may be the most significant economic issue the senate addresses in 2020. Obviously the senate will also be holding an impeachment trial in the days ahead. Both of these are extraordinarily important matters that deserve to be addressed by the senate with utmost seriousness. The new nafta agreement must not be used as a convenient excuse to shut down any other business before the senate. Mr. Chairman, its been a pleasure to work with you. Weve got a lot to do in 2020. Im looking forward to going ahead with our Bipartisan Health care efforts, for example. We have a lot to do in 2020 and i thank you for arranging this morning. Thank you very much for your cooperation. This is the order of the first four or five that i have on the list here. Mr. Crapo and senator menendez, senator roberts. So now senator crapo for three minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I, too, welcome senator sass to the committee. And i want to thank you, mr. Chairman, and senator wyden for your hard work on this. I also agree with both of your supportive comments. I want to thank ambassador lighthizer and President Trump for helping us get to this place as well. We are voting on the u. S. MexicoCanada Agreement is welcome news. I long maintained that the original north america Free Trade Agreement needed to be renegotiated. I had concerns with nafta because many goods and services originating in the United States received unfair treatment among our trading partners. It also did not provide sufficient Market Access nor did it address pricing structures and restrictive trade practices in the dairy industry. President trump and u. S. Trade representative Robert Lighthizers forceful negotiations on behalf of americas farmers and workers fulfills one of the president s Core Campaign promises. Many americans will see benefits of this updated trade deal with two of our countrys three largest trading partners. The agreement is projected to raise real gdp by over 66 billion and create nearly 176,000 jobs. It will expand Market Access for u. S. Farmers with new export opportunities for dairy, poultry and egg producers. It addresses longstanding, nontariff barriers that restricted u. S. Producers ability to export wheat and wine to canada. By requiring the use of scientific standards it will prevent food safety and animal or plant measures for being used as protectionist trade restrictions. It eliminates canadas class six and seven milk ingredient price programs that hindered u. S. Exports to third country markets. These changes are predicted to increase u. S. Dairy exports to canada by 227 million and mexico by 50. 6 million. Total annual u. S. Agriculture and food exports are expected to increase by 2. 2 billion. These are just a few of the benefits that American Business and Rural Communities stand to gain. Beyond the many improvements in the Agricultural Sector usmca will be the first u. S. Free trade agreement with a digital trade chapter, creating a foundation to help spur the development of trade and investment in Digital Products and services. To that end, it will establish information sharing tools to help more than 120,000 american small and medium sized businesses that export goods and services to canada and mexico and take advantage of the usmca. I applaud President Trumps decision to renegotiate this pact and commend the efforts of ambassador lighthizer to get this deal done. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Senator menendez for three minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Back when i started in the house of representatives i took a strong stand against nafta. I did so because in the nafta lacked strong enforceable rules to protect workers and ensure that American Families actually benefit from trade. I feared nafta would only intense fi outsourcing of manufacturing jobs an contribute to stagnant wages to the middle class and unfortunately i was right. I was concerned that usmca would repeat these same mistakes, but now thanks to the work of congressional democrats, the includes upgraded rules to protect workers across the continent. And because of these improvements, i will support this agreement. However, this negotiation was not only a chance to right naftas wrongs, it was an opportunity to lay the foundation for future growth in americas most competitive industries. Unfortunately, we didnt fully seize that opportunity. Im disappointed that usmca lacks strong intellectual property protections that promote innovative jobs in new jersey and across the country. Future trade agreements must do more to encourage, protect, and reward american innovation. And finally, we have to be clear eyed about the oversight that lies ahead of us to make our trade policy work for American Families. This implementing bill gives ustr tremendous leeway to choose whether to enforce certain labor violations. It gives ustr the power to grant or deny individual Automotive Companies additional time to comply with the complex rules of origin. And these are serious concerns. Even beyond usmca, weve seen the administrations trade policy sow confusion in other areas. A threat to put tariffs on mexico over immigration. Unclear criteria for our constituents seeking tariff exclusions and a china deal that may or may not put an end to intellectual theft, cyberespionage, that have damaged americas economy for over a decade. We can debate whether these were the right policy choices but we should all be able to agree that ustr must be transparent with the American People about the choices they make. So in order to do that, i plan to introduce a bill to establish an Inspector General for the ustr. Nearly every other cabinet level agency has a statutory Inspector General to increase transparency, make government more accountable, and crack down on waste, fraud, and abuse. Its time ustr had one as well and i look forward to working with members of the committee, and you, mr. Chairman, given your deep history, to bring a new era of accountability to our trade policy to the benefit of American Workers and their families. Thank you, mr. Chairman, for your leadership. For your strong advocacy of the United Statescanada trade agreement. Which also stands for the United States marine corps always. I also want to recognize efforts of ambassador lighthizer. They worked overtime to get this done and the whole team at the ustr. Crafting a final product that could gain the support of many stakeholders is no easy task, especially in todays climate politically. I would just like to say on behalf of the farmers, ranchers, growers in kansas and all over the country, they have made one thing very Crystal Clear over the past year. Pass usmca now. They have been ever since 2014. We continue to be in a very rough patch. Now, we passed a farm bill a little more than a year ago to provide farmers and ranchers with a certainty and predictability they need to be successful producers. But as important as the farm bill is, i have heard from folks around the country. It is clear they need reliable markets. Both do