The USMCA will be insignificant to Trump in 2020

One big nothingburger

President Trump.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Mark Makela/Getty Images, Library of Congress)

House Democrats reached a deal with President Trump earlier this week to pass a revised version of the North American Free Trade agreement. Centrist Democrats and House leadership under Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Cali.) were convinced they needed to "show that we can do something," as Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) put it. Meanwhile, the Democrats' progressive flank is appalled that the party handed Trump a win even as it tries to hammer the message that the president is a dire threat to American democracy.

But all of this raises the question: Will passage of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) actually help Trump's re-election chances? Of course, there is a somewhat parallel question about whether or not the Democrats muddled their message on impeachment by announcing an accord with the very president they're trying to boot from the White House. But in terms of securing Trump another four years, the USMCA's successful passage will likely be a giant nothingburger.

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Jeff Spross

Jeff Spross was the economics and business correspondent at TheWeek.com. He was previously a reporter at ThinkProgress.