Pelosi to speak on USMCA as officials close in on trade deal
US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and White House senior adviser Jared Kushner are due to fly to Mexico City on Tuesday for meetings to try to pin down final details
US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will hold a news conference on Tuesday to discuss the US Mexico Canada (USMCA) trade deal as US and Canadian officials prepared to fly to Mexico City to work on final changes to the agreement.
"We are close. We are not quite finished yet, we are within range," Pelosi told a forum of chief executives on Monday evening.
Her office did not elaborate on any announcement but she will be accompanied at the news conference by Representative Richard Neal, the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee in the Democratic-led House of Representatives.
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Pelosi told the forum she expected the final language of the USMCA to be set by Tuesday, which would bring Democrats to a "moment of truth" on whether to proceed to passage.
She was working on the language of separate legislation on how the deal would be implemented, she said.
The Trump administration and Democrats in the US House of Representatives are closing in on a deal following several intense days of negotiations with Mexico over potential changes to clauses concerning labour enforcement, steel and aluminium, biologic drugs and internet services.
US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and White House senior adviser Jared Kushner are due to fly to Mexico City on Tuesday for meetings to try to pin down final details, an administration official told Reuters on Monday.
They will be joined by Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, a spokesman for Freeland said.
As House speaker, Pelosi will decide whether and when to bring the trade legislation to the floor for a vote.
