Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds is urging lawmakers in Washington to ratify the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which she says will help bring stability to her state's agriculture industry.
"Our message to Congress is to please rectify the USMCA. That'll bring a lot of certainty and predictability to the market," Reynolds told Cheddar on Thursday.
Following a year of negotiations, the USMCA was signed by President Donald Trump, now former Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last November at the G-20 Summit in Buenos Aires. The trade deal was meant to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which was established in 1994 and created a free trade zone between the three neighbors.
In an overwhelming vote last week, Mexico's General Congress approved the USMCA making Mexico the first country to fully sign onto the deal. The U.S. Congress and the Canadian Parliament have yet to ratify the pact.
"This is a very important advance," Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said at a press conference last week. "It is a clear sign that there is unity in the country."
Canada and Mexico are currently the second and third largest trading partners with the U.S., with total trade topping $617 billion and $611 billion in 2018 respectively, according to government figures.
The USMCA covers numerous aspects of cross-border trade, including labor laws, environmental standards, and intellectual property rights. It also has specific provisions for various sectors like auto manufacturers, digital services, and agriculture. The U.S., for instance, negotiated hard for easier access to the Canadian dairy market.
Democrats, however, have expressed concerns over weak enforcement measures on workers' rights and environmental regulations, and have refused to hold a vote on the deal in the House.
"Without real enforcement mechanisms we would be locking American workers into another bad deal. A new trade agreement without enforcement is not progress for the American worker, just a press release for the President," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in a statement in May. "We have been on a path to yes, but it must be a path that leads to an agreement that delivers positive results for American workers and farmers."
Nonetheless, Reynolds told Cheddar that Iowa's economy is growing, despite "some significant challenges with agricultural." Iowa is currently the second largest agricultural exporter in the U.S., with nearly 50 percent of its exports going to Canada and Mexico in 2018.
Farmers "really, really, really would like to see USMCA ratified," the Republican governor said.
After a vote in one Buffalo, New York-area Starbucks created the first workers union in the coffee chain's history, the company has announced that it is ready to negotiate in good faith with the new bargaining unit. But a tense process where labor organizers leveled accusations of anti-union activity at the coffee giant may make that difficult. Cortlin Harrison, a barista at the unionized store, spoke to Cheddar about making a deal. "We can move past all the dirty tricks, the union-busting, the captive audience meetings," he said. "I'm ready to go to the table, and my fellow baristas are ready to go to the table, and just move forward."
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Bitcoin's rise to the mainstream has been a wild ride this year. The cryptocurrency is trading a little under $49,000 Wednesday morning and is set to finish the year sharply higher than where it began earlier this year. Ether prices also soared this year, rising from $730 per coin to nearly $4,000. Ben Armstrong, founder of Bitboy Crypto, joins us to discuss what's in store for crypto in 2022.
The fitness industry was one of the most severely impacted at the start of the pandemic. As the omicron variant of COVID-19 threatens fitness centers and gyms, the Global Health and Fitness Association, along with the Community Gyms Coalition, are calling on the federal government to provide pandemic relief before the close of 2021. Crunch Fitness Franchise CEO Ben Midgely joined Cheddar to talk about proactive steps gyms are taking to maximize business as COVID resurges. "It should be a little bit easier," he said. "We hate to have to deal with it again, but it's what businesses in this country have to work with."
