The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has told key congressional committees that a report on the administration’s priorities for an upcoming review of a North American trade deal will actually be a closed-door oral briefing – sparking pushback from lawmakers.
The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement comes up for a six-year review in July. USTR has been gathering feedback from across U.S. industries on how it should approach discussions with the U.S.’ North American neighbors.
By law, the agency has to “report” to Congress at least 180 days before the July 1 review on its assessment of the free trade agreement’s operation, whether it will push for an extension and any details on any reform proposals.
According to three people familiar with the situation, USTR has told the Senate Finance and the House Ways and Means committees – the two panels tasked with overseeing U.S. trade policy – that the report will take the form of an oral briefing.
The law does not specify that the report has to written.
“There was no requirement for a written report, and therefore the administration didn't think they needed to do one,” an official in the first Trump administration told Agri-Pulse.
But the decision to hold a closed-door briefing instead of a publicly available document is rankling some lawmakers.
The top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee Ron Wyden, D-Ore., told Agri-Pulse in an email that Congress “and the public should be able to see a written report clearly laying out the United States’ position” before the review.
“Trade policy is too important to be done in the dark,” he added.
A spokesperson for Iowa GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley also said that congressional intent when crafting the USMCA statute was for written reporting.
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“Senator Grassley expects the U.S. Trade Representative to work closely with Congress on USMCA review,” the spokesperson said in an email, adding that the senator “welcomes ongoing conversations.”
The former Trump administration official noted that lawmakers have long pushed for more transparency in U.S. trade policymaking.
“The Hill, of course, likes written reports,” the former official said, for good reason. “Transparency in trade policies is really useful. It’s always better when people have a good sense of what you're doing and why.”
Notably, during the USMCA negotiations in 2017 Trump’s first-term, then-USTR Robert Lighthizer, published an 18-page, bullet-pointed document outlining the administration’s negotiating objectives. But a former Democratic congressional aide told Agri-Pulse that transparency backslid under President Joe Biden.
Lawmakers, including many Democrats, sparred with the Biden administration over what they saw as insufficient consultation with Congress on its Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity initiative and opaque negotiations.
“They didn't really tell you what they were trying to do in IPEF,” the former Democratic aide said. Accordingly, Biden’s USTR Katherine Tai set a much lower bar for transparency and keeping Congress up to date, the aide added.
“I just don't see any reason why USTR would be more transparent in this case than they were in the Biden administration,” the former aide added.
It was also in Lighthizer’s interests to foster a positive relationship with Congress, as he needed lawmakers to ultimately ratify the USMCA. But the administration may not need Congress to sign off on a reformed agreement if the underlying legal text is unchanged.
“All the incentives are against transparency,” the aide said.
During a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing on Tuesday, Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., implored U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer to maintain strong lines of communication with Congress in the run up to the 2026 review, as well as with industry stakeholders, local governments and workers.
“I commit to have my office and myself at disposal of you and anyone else who wants to talk about USMCA and other trade matters,” Greer replied.
USTR did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
Steve Davies also contributed to this report.
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