By Kathleen Miller and Jordan Fabian
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said the U.S., Mexico, and Canada are close to finalizing changes to a revised North American free trade deal.
“We’re within inches, maybe millimeters of a deal,” Ross said in a Fox Business Network interview Tuesday morning.
Ross said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi should bring the revised agreement to the floor for a vote this week, or soon afterward, “if we’re going to have it.”
President Donald Trump’s administration plans to sign off on adjustments to the U.S.-Mexico-Canada free trade deal known as USMCA today, according to two officials. The move comes after Trump secured approval for the changes from the head AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and presidential adviser Jared Kushner will travel to Mexico City on Tuesday to finalize an addendum with the changes, according to the two officials familiar with the plan. Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland is also heading to the Mexican capital.
The compromise deal was hammered out by Lighthizer, Pelosi and the Mexican government, the officials said. Pelosi said Monday she won’t consider the deal final until Congress writes the bill to implement the agreement.