Trump presses Democratic leaders on stalled trade deal at White House

President Trump and his economic adviser Larry Kudlow pressed Democratic leaders at a White House meeting Tuesday on moving the stalled U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which faces opposition from labor and environmental groups. 

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Democrats told Trump that the new trade deal needs stronger labor and environmental protection provisions. 

“We talked about we need much more adequate enforcement of labor protections. We brought up the pharmaceutical provision and we brought up environmental protections,” Schumer said. “They were very eager to figure what we needed to pass it.”

The meeting was focused on putting together an infrastructure deal, and Schumer and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) described those talks as constructive, saying they'd agreed on a $2 trillion price tag for legislation. The group plans to meet in another three weeks to follow up.

“It was a meeting where both sides really said we want to get something done,” Schumer said.