President Donald Trump’s replacement for NAFTA continues to draw opposition from Democrats, something that Star News Political Editor Steve Gill discussed Friday on Fox News.
Video of the interview is available here.
Trump headed to Milwaukee to push for the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), a replacement for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Trump made his appeal for the USMCA to a friendly crowd in at Derco Aerospace, a Lockheed Martin-owned company, in Milwaukee, CBS News reported. The company provides logistics and technical support for fixed-wing aircraft.
Gill spoke to Fox News about the president’s Wisconsin visit and the opposition he is facing from Democrats, which includes a claim by the president of the Wisconsin Fair Trade Coalition that Trump’s plan fails to prevent the outsourcing of jobs.
However, Gill said, “This was one of President Trump’s key promises on the campaign trail that they would fix NAFTA, and that’s what this NAFTA 2.0, this new and improved NAFTA will do.”
The new plan will benefit the agricultural and automotive industries, Gill said. Mexico has approved it and Canada is ready to approve it.
“The only thing holding it up right now is the House Democrats, and frankly, they don’t want to give President Trump a win,” Gill said.
Gill also discussed a series of tweets Trump made Friday talking about the success of tariffs. The first tweet said, “When you are the big ‘piggy bank’ that other countries have been ripping off for years (to a level that is not to be believed), Tariffs are a great negotiating tool, a great revenue producer and, most importantly, a powerful way to get companies to come to the USA.”
When you are the big “piggy bank” that other countries have been ripping off for years (to a level that is not to be believed), Tariffs are a great negotiating tool, a great revenue producer and, most importantly, a powerful way to get……
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 12, 2019
Democrats, like U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH-13) and U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), have long been attacking the USMCA under the leadership of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), as Battleground State News reported in May.
Bucking the trend, one Minnesota Democrat has expressed support for the USMCA.
U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson (D-MN-07) last October said he was “pleased to see the NAFTA renegotiation take one step closer to a possible conclusion,” and his concerns were for dairy and poultry producers.
The Hill reported on Trump’s remarks Friday about Democrats’ opposition.
“For years members of Congress have demanded a replacement for NAFTA,” Trump said during remarks at Derco Aerospace Inc. in Milwaukee.
“Now they finally have the best replacement that they could ever even imagine,” he continued. “The farmers can’t believe it. The manufactures can’t believe it… the unions can’t believe it. It’s good for everybody.”
Trump urged Congress to approve the USMCA “immediately” so that he could sign it into law.
Also on Fox News, Gill discussed how the economy and trade will affect the presidential election in 2020, especially in battleground states like Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Those states have farmers, auto manufacturers and steel manufacturers, and how people there react to the news of tariffs matters more than how people elsewhere receive such news, like in New York or California.
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Jason M. Reynolds has more than 20 years’ experience as a journalist at outlets of all sizes.
Photo “Steve Gill” by Stage Post Live Shot Guests.
