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Secretary says Congress is slowing down NAFTA renegotiation

The Secretary of Commerce says Congress is slowing down the process of renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Under trade promotion authority, the administration must submit a notice to Congress of its intent to enter into trade negotiations.

Wilbur Ross told Fox News the administration is waiting on permission from Congress.  “In terms of NAFTA, we need Congress’ permission to enter into the formal 90-day letter into the records so that we can begin the formal negotiations,” he says.

He says they had hoped to have that done before the Easter Recess, but the process has become “frustratingly slow”.  “Bad trade deals shouldn’t be allowed to sit,” he says.  “The longer they sit there the more they are to our disadvantage.  It’s quite unfortunate the way Congress has been working has been to slow-walk these activities.”

Ross says the delay in confirming Robert Lighthizer as the next US Trade Representative hasn’t helped either.