On December 19, 2019, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 5430, the U.S. Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA) that will replace the NAFTA. The strong bipartisan vote was 385 in favor, 41 opposed and 5 not voting.
Associated Industries of Missouri president and CEO Ray McCarty was pleased with the overwhelming vote. "This vote is the result if many conversations, letters and lobbying efforts by national business organizations, including the National Association of Manufacturers, and we are happy the bill has now cleared the U.S. House," he said. "We thank all of the Missouri congressional delegation that supported the bill."
All Members of Congress from Missouri supported the bill except Congressman Wm. Lacy Clay, who was one of the 41 "no" votes. See the vote here.
Congresswoman Ann Wagner tweeted: "The President has negotiated a deal that will strengthen our economy and benefit all Missourians, and I am glad that we can finally deliver this win to the American people."
Congressman Sam Graves said in a statement, “Today’s approval of the USMCA is a huge victory for America and I was proud to support it. After more than a year of delay by Speaker Pelosi, we were finally able to get this common-sense trade agreement approved. President Trump promised to get a much better trade deal with Canada and Mexico and he kept his promise. This agreement is a good deal for the American farmer, the American worker and the American family. I’m glad we finally got this done. It’s a big win for the American people.”
The USMCA is viewed by most in Congress and the business community as a much better deal than NAFTA. It is expected to help create 176,000 new American jobs—including 76,000 new jobs in the automotive sector. The deal is important to keeping American jobs in America for years to come and is a real win for American businesses too. It’s estimated to generate more than $68 billion in new economic activity. The USMCA establishes stronger enforcement measures, a big improvement over NAFTA, which will help ensure American businesses aren’t getting cheated by foreign competitors.
The measure now moves to the U.S. Senate.
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