Applause for Schumer over USMCA opposition

WASHINGTON – Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) today announced that he will vote against the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, aka Trump’s NAFTA, a deal that will make climate change worse and strip citizens of the right to challenge polluters.

In response to Schumer’s opposition, Erich Pica, president of Friends of the Earth U.S., issued the following statement:

We applaud Schumer’s decision to champion the cause of climate change by voting against Trump’s USMCA. As wildfires rage out of control and our planet endures record-breaking temperatures, Democrats must stop oil and gas companies from using backroom trade deals to destroy the environment.

In opposing Trump’s trade deal, Leader Schumer is protesting the inevitable increase in the trade of tar sands, oil and fracked gas across the continent. The trade agreement will help corporate polluters, like Chevron and ExxonMobil, challenge environmental protections in private tribunals. The USMCA is both an insult to communities across North America who live on the front lines of corporate pollution and a giant step in the wrong direction.

Leader Schumer has demonstrated climate leadership by opposing USMCA. There is no excuse for any Democrat to vote for a trade deal that compromises our climate.

Contact: Patrick Davis, (202) 222-0744, [email protected]