Elizabeth Warren slams Trump trade deal as just ‘NAFTA 2.0’

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is coming out against President Trump’s new trade deal with Canada and Mexico, claiming it fails to fix the most harmful aspects of the original pact.

“As it’s currently written, Trump’s deal won’t stop the serious and ongoing harm NAFTA [the North American Free Trade Agreement] causes for American workers,” Warren says in prepared remarks for an address at the American University Law School in Washington, D.C., later Thursday.”It won’t stop outsourcing, it won’t raise wages, and it won’t create jobs. It’s NAFTA 2.0.”

Trump had blasted NAFTA on the campaign trail and earlier this year completed negotiations on a new pact he has called the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

{mosads}Trump says the new pact is a better deal for American workers, but Warren dismissed those claims.

“For example, NAFTA 2.0 has better labor standards on paper but it doesn’t give American workers enough tools to enforce those standards,” she says. “Without swift and certain enforcement of these new labor standards, big corporations will continue outsourcing jobs to Mexico so they can pay workers less.

“NAFTA 2.0 is also stuffed with handouts that will let big drug companies lock in the high prices they charge for many drugs. The new rules will make it harder to bring down drug prices for seniors and anyone else who needs access to life-saving medicine,” Warren adds.

In her remarks, Warren also vows to oppose the deal in the Senate.

“I oppose NAFTA 2.0, and will vote against it in the Senate unless President Trump reopens the agreement and produces a better deal for America’s working families,” she says.

Warren is a potential 2020 presidential candidate.