Emilia Sykes

WASHINGTON - U.S. Rep. Emilia Sykes joined labor and environmental leaders on Capitol Hill Tuesday to demand that the Trump administration renegotiate the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, arguing the trade pact has failed Ohio workers.

The Akron Democrat hosted the event days before a July 1 deadline that opens the first scheduled review of the USMCA, the deal President Trump signed during his first term to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement. USMCA’s terms require the three countries to decide whether to extend it for another 16 years or enter a series of annual reviews that could end the pact in 2036.

“Northeast Ohio knows better than anyone, free trade does not equal fair trade,” said Sykes, who’d like to see the USMCA’s review process bolster labor protections and strengthen environmental enforcement.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat, said weak enforcement lets foreign competitors undercut American producers by cutting corners on labor and pollution.

“It’s really important that, as we undertake this joint review of the USMCA, we go to battle to make sure that the provisions for labor enforcement and the provisions for environmental enforcement are strong,” said Whitehouse.

When asked about Democrats’ USMCA concerns, White House spokesman Kush Desai defended President Donald Trump’s record.

“It was President Trump who scrapped the disaster known as NAFTA, and it was President Trump who then secured over 20 new trade deals that put American workers and industries first,” said a statement from Desai. “Democrats can keep talking while President Trump actually delivers results for American workers.”

Speaking at the press conference, Sierra Club Executive Director Loren Blackford argued Trump oversold the USMCA when he signed it.

“There are no good jobs without clean air and clean water,” said Blackford.

United Steelworkers International President Roxanne Brown, called NAFTA a “disaster” that hollowed out factory towns and pitted workers in the United States and Mexico against each other. She said USMCA made some progress but didn’t go far enough.

She said too many Mexican workers are making poverty wages, fighting to form independent unions and to be safe on the job, and too many companies are still chasing cheap labor and moving jobs out of the United States while delivering record profits to shareholders.

“That is unacceptable, and it is fixable,” said Brown. “Right now, we have a critical opportunity through the USMCA joint review. We can rewrite the rules of trade, so they finally work for working people and for the environment.”

Asked how the coalition could force action if the administration declines to reopen the deal, Jason Walsh, executive director of the BlueGreen Alliance coalition of labor and environmental groups, said letting the agreement lapse into annual reviews would be better than locking in the current terms. He said the goal is to fix the deal as soon as possible.

Sykes said Congress shares the blame for ceding its power to make trade deals to the administration. She called on House Speaker Mike Johnson to let lawmakers exercise their constitutional authority over trade.

“Congress has a role and a responsibility to engage and to force these actions,” said Sykes.