Former Rep. Joe Crowley (D-N.Y.) has joined the “Pass USMCA Coalition” in an effort to help President Donald Trump’s United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement pass.
“I’m excited to join the Pass USMCA Coalition,” said Crowley in a press release. “USMCA is a landmark trade victory for America’s workers. My former colleagues should take action to ratify the agreement quickly.”
The longtime congressman, who was defeated in the June 2018 primary by progressive Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, has signed on as an honorary co-chairman. After leaving Congress last year, it was announced earlier this week that Crowley would join the law and lobbying firm Squire Patton Boggs.
Pass USMCA is a coalition of business, trade and advocacy groups that is working to promote the passage of Trump’s United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement which will replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
In November, Trump joined leaders of Canada and Mexico at the G-20 summit in Argentina and signed a revised North American trade pact. The revised pact, which the president called “groundbreaking” and a benefit for “working people,” is supposed to replace the 24-year-old NAFTA. Trump has previously called NAFTA a “disaster.”
Launched earlier this month by Trump’s former deputy chief of staff, Rick Dearborn, Pass USMCA reportedly brought on Crowley in an effort to get “Democrats on board with the president’s trade agreement,” according to The Hill.
Legislative approval is currently pending and has been seen as a hurdle with the Democrat-run House of Representatives, as many “Democrats and their allies in the labor movement” have demanded changes to the agreement, according to The Associated Press.
Dearborn told The Hill that he’s “hopeful” that the coalition can inform the many “fresh new faces in the Democratic caucus” and ultimately make them “supportive of the deal.” He also said he thinks it will pass.