Mexico’s Senate Majority Leader is pushing for passage of changes to a new free-trade deal with the U.S. and Canada by the end of this week after the governments of the three nations completed months of negotiations.
Ricardo Monreal, from President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s ruling Morena party, said on Wednesday that he wants a vote before Dec. 15, the end of its fall session. The next regular session wouldn’t be scheduled until February.
“It could be tomorrow, it could be Friday, but it needs to be within this ordinary session period,” Monreal told reporters.
That would make Mexico the first country to approve the revised deal with stronger labor protections announced on Tuesday by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and backed by the largest American labor federation. Pelosi said she hopes for a vote before Congress recesses Dec. 20. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the Senate will vote after President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, sometime in early 2020. Canada’s parliament is poised to take it up sometime next year.