Mexico confident US Congress will pass USMCA: president

MEXICO CITY -- Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Wednesday said he is confident the US Congress will ratify the renewed North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) "by September at the latest."

Once legislative powers in the US, as well as Canada, have approved the deal, now called the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), it will boost confidence in Mexico's economy, attracting more investment and spurring growth, said Lopez Obrador.

In June, Mexico became the first of the three trade partners to ratify the content of the new agreement when it met with Senate approval.

The three heads of state signed the renegotiated deal on Nov 30, 2018 on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

NAFTA was renegotiated on the insistence of US President Donald Trump, who blamed the 1994 agreement for the loss of industrial jobs in the United States.