Grassley Says New NAFTA Ratification Not Likely to Happen Before August Recess
If the new NAFTA passes in the House, "I don't think there's any question but it's going to pass the Senate," Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said May 23. He leads the Senate Finance Committee, which is responsible for moving the trade treaty in that body. He also said he thinks it will be difficult for the ratification in the House to be done before the August recess.
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But, he said, the fact that House leaders are selecting three or four members to negotiate with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and his staff on the areas of enforcement, environment, labor and biologic drugs is a step forward. They will "have an opportunity to sit down with a few people in the House of Representatives who can hopefully negotiate in good faith," Grassley said. But he continues to be concerned about how the issue of biologics can be fixed to Democrats' satisfaction. "I think if you get into the pharmaceutical area, it can’t anything be done as long as Canada and Mexico won't open up negotiations again, and I don't think they're going to, and I don’t think they should have to."
Grassley said he has talked with some members of the House Ways and Means Committee about the NAFTA rewrite, but not with the three Democrats in Iowa's four-person House delegation. "But if I ever need to talk to them, I will, and I’d feel very comfortable talking to them," he said in response to a question from International Trade Today. "Two or three times since they’ve been in office, we’ve had breakfast together as an Iowa delegation, and things like this are a natural topic of conversation."