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U.S. wants new trade pact with Canada, Mexico passed by summer -Pence

30 May 2019 23:14 (UTC +04:00)

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said on Thursday he was pushing to get the U.S. Congress to ratify the new North American trade agreement this summer after both Canada and Mexico signaled they are ready to start the approval process, ONA reports quoting Reuters.

Pence, the Trump administration’s point person for getting the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) approved by Congress, made the remark at the start of a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Ottawa.

The deal, which was signed late last year, is meant to replace the existing North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). It has yet to be ratified by any of the three countries.

Canada formally began the process on Wednesday and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Thursday announced his government’s intention to send the treaty to Mexico’s Congress for ratification.

“We have a historic opportunity to strengthen the economic ties between our two nations with the passage of the USMCA,” Pence told reporters after sitting down beside Trudeau.