Pro-trade group targets 4 lawmakers in push for new NAFTA

Trade Works for America, a group aiming to secure passage of President Trump’s new trade agreement with Mexico and Canada, is running ads targeting four lawmakers.

The ads tell viewers to contact the lawmakers and urge them to support the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). Each ad focuses on a different lawmaker, including Republican Rep. Tim Walberg (Mich.) and freshman Democratic Reps. Elissa Slotkin (Mich.), Xochitl Torres Small (N.M.) and Josh Harder (Calif.).

USMCA is the renegotiated North American Free Trade Agreement deal. Trump signed the deal in November, setting off a six-month deadline for Congress to approve it.

“Rep. Walberg understands NAFTA is long overdue for a revision to provide a better deal for hardworking Michiganders,” Walberg spokesman Dan Kotman told The Hill in a statement. “Speaker Pelosi needs to stop standing in the way of getting a much needed vote in the House for this agreement.” 

The three Democratic lawmakers have not responded to a request for comment from The Hill about the ads.

{mosads}Trade Works for America was announced in February but officially launched with the announcement of its co-chairs in March. Former Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), who lost her reelection campaign in November is a co-chairwoman, alongside GOP operative Phil Cox.

The group is planning a multimillion-dollar, nationwide ad campaign to educate workers, job creators and lawmakers about the benefits of the USMCA. The campaign will focus on educating and mobilizing voters outside the D.C.-area.

More than 20 lawmakers have received calls and emails from the coalition. It plans to spend about $20 million and has raised one-third of its goal.

Other prominent groups pushing for passage of the trade agreement are Pass USMCA, founded by Trump’s former deputy chief of staff Rick Dearborn, and USMCA Coalition, which was spearheaded by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, among other groups.

Like Trade Works for America, Pass USMCA has Democrats on board — the honorary co-chairmen are former Democratic Rep. Joseph Crowley (N.Y.) and Gary Locke, the former Democratic governor of Washington and a onetime ambassador to China.

Updated at 2:22 p.m.