WASHINGTON _ Jared Kushner will travel to Mexico on Tuesday to finalize talks over a revised North American trade pact after reaching a tentative agreement with Republican and Democratic lawmakers to ratify its passage, two administration officials told McClatchy.
Kushner, son-in-law and senior adviser to President Donald Trump, will travel with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, who has led an effort on Capitol Hill to negotiate a path toward ratification.
Early in his term, Trump pulled out of the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, with Canada and Mexico, saying he would pursue a deal more beneficial for American workers.
One source said that Kushner was "optimistic" over the fate of the agreement, which requires support from Democratic leaders in the House in order to secure a vote.
Early Monday evening, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., had still not announced a final agreement.
Republicans have spent the past several months using floor speeches, tweet storms and home state engagements to blast Democrats for not bringing up Trump's trade deal for a vote in the House. Because it is a revenue measure, the law states that legislative action on the trade deal must first take place in the House before it can go to the Senate.
The GOP's pressure campaign on Pelosi in particular has intensified in recent weeks, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky making floor remarks to accuse the California Democrat of "slow-walking" the agreement and caving to the demands of "big labor" while nursing an "impeachment obsession."
Pelosi, meanwhile, has been working to thread a delicate needle, determined to negotiate a deal with the administration that a broad coalition of House Democrats can support.
She seeks to deliver a deal that can win the backing of moderates facing tough re-election races next year _they are eager to vote on a trade bill before year-end to show they accomplished a key legislative priority amid a controversial impeachment inquiry.
But Pelosi has also been actively engaged with unions, especially the AFL-CIO, to shore up key enforcement provisions to protect workers, which she hopes will attract progressive lawmakers who have shied away from backing labor deals in the past.
The sticking points at the final stages of negotiations between the three countries affected by the new trade deal related to provisions involving to steel, iron and pharmaceuticals, according to sources close to the discussions.
