Toomey, were the only members of the committee to voice opposition to the trade deal which the house passed in december by a vote of 385 to 41. Were meeting today to consider hr5430, the United Statesmexicocanada agreement implementation act. And senator sasse isnt here but hes a new member of the committee, so i would like to welcome senator sasse 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 sasse 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 scheduled 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 muchneeded certainty and real benefits to americas farmers, workers, and businesses. Farmers are Getting Better and more reliable Market Access which farmers badly need. Workers will see thousands of new jobs, particularly in high wage manufacturing industries. Businesses will have an agreement that reflect the realities of modern commerce including for the 1 and 3 10 u. S. Digital economy. Usmca corrects the enforcement flaws that very much plagued nafta and ensure that is ts tha 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, and 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 travel to arrive at this meeting today tested my patience at times. Take 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 got tired of 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 id like to get this to the president s desk. Senator white. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. And happy new year to all and look forward to working with all our colleagues. Ive been trying to touch base with senator sasse and 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 thenpresident 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 more 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. That 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 importance of enforcing trade laws. But all along, what this country did on enforcement was just too weakless. It didnt have any teeth, and it was too slow to protect american jobs from trade chiefs. 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 at 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. We talked to many on the other side. And senator brown and i developed a proposal thats all about putting power in the hands of American Workers and American Businesses so they can fight back when theyre getting ripped off by trade chiefs. And 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. And 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 chiefs 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. After we did that, we went to the Trump Administration and said if you want our support on the new nafta, youve got to build on the tough trade enforcement proposal that we have been suggesting. We said this is a prereq to getting nafta done right. When you combine this allin approach with labor rights and environment, you also shut down the corporate race to the bottom on cheap wages and lax standards. T it 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 road. Senator carper, senator 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 comments with respect to something nobody talked about when the first nafta came up. And thats technology and digital trade. Digital trade wasnt 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 goodpaying jobs in our country. And most important, technology is woven into just about every major american industry. Its woven into 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 creating and protecting red, white, and blue jobs in a whole host of important goodpaying industries. The new nafta will fight back against trade chiefs 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 dairy to canada. More our wine is going to 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 revolves around trade. The trade jobs often pay better than do the nontrade jobs and almost all of them are small and medium size. 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, and colleagues, i guess thats what you get when you have an alum of the Senate Finance committee, former staff director. Senator sasse, were glad youre here. And i want 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. So, weve got 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. Crabrel, for three minutes. Thank you mr. Chairman. I too welcome senator sasse 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 today on the u. S. Mexicocanada agreement is welcomed news. Ive long maintained that the original north america trade agreement, nafta, needed to be renegotiated. Goods received unfair treatment among trading partners. It also didnt provide sufficient Market Access nor did it address market structures and 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 countries three largest partners. The agreement is projected to raise u. S. Real gdp by over 66 billion and create 176,000 jobs. It will expand Market Access for farmers for dairy, puoultry, an egg producers. By requiring the use of scientific standards, it will prevent food safety and animal or plant measures from being used as protectionist trade restrictions. It eliminates canadas class six and seven milk programs that hindered u. S. Exports to third country markets. These changes are protected to increase dairy exports to canada by 270 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 Business stand to gain. Usmca will be the first Free Trade Agreement with a digital trade chapter, creating a foundation to help spur the development of trade in Digital Development 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 take advantage of the usmca. I applaud President Trumps decision to renegotiate this pact and commend for getting this done. Senator menendez. Thank you. When i served in the house of representatives, i took a strong stand against nafta. I did so because nafta lacked strong enforceable rules to protect workers and ensure that American Families actually benefit from trade. I feared nafta would only intensify outsourcing of manufacturing jobs and contribute to stagnant wages for the american middle class, and unfortunately i was right. So, i was concerned that usmca would repeat these same mistakes. But now thanks to the, wo of congressional democrats, usmca 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 clarence to right naftas wrongs, it was an opportunity to Lay Foundation for future growth in americas most competitive agencies. We didnt fully seize that opportunity. Im disappointed that usmca lacks strong intellectual property protections that promote 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 about the oversight that lies ahead of us to make our trade policy work for American Families. This implementing bill gives tremendous leeway to choose whether to enforce certain labor violations. It gives ust 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 u. S. Mca, weve seen the trade policy sow confusion in other areas, a china deal that may or may not put an end to the intellectual theft, Cyber Espionage for over a decade. We can debate whether these were the right policy changes, but we can agree that ustr must be transparent with the American People about the choices they make. In order to do that, i plan to introduce a bill to accomplish an Inspector General for the ustr. Nearly every other cabinet level agency has a statutory Inspector General general. Its time ustr has one as well. Im looking forward to working with members of the committee and you mr. Chairman 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 sotrog advocacy of the United Statescanada trade agreement which also stands for the United States marine corps also. I want to recognize the significance of ambassador lighthizer to get this done. They worked overtime to get this done. Crafting a final product that could gain the support of so many stakeholders is no easy task especially in todays climate politically. I would like to say on behalf of the farmers, ranchers, and growers all over the country, they made one thing very Crystal Clear over the past year, times are challenging right now in farm country. 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 the certainty they need to be successful producers, but as important as the farm bill is, ive heard from folks around the country it is clear they need reliable markets both domestically and abroad. And for this reason, i will be supporting the passage. I want to Say Something about the original nafta agreement. Back in 2018, the countries acounted for 30 of the u. S. Agriculture exports. Increase since nafta signed into law. For exports to mexico, the value has grown 316 to 19. 1 billion in 218. It seems to me thats pretty good for a trade act that has been described as the worse trade bill ever written. I have noticed that because i helped write the bill with the beloved chairman of the House Committee at that time. And according to the u. S. International trade commission, this is going to provide even more Growth Potential