Trump to Democrats: no infrastructure without commercial agreement

On the eve of a much-awaited meeting with Democrats during which President Donald Trump was to unveil a way to fund a $ 2 trillion infrastructure proposal, Trump instead warned Congress that 39, it should give way to a trade agreement.

"Before moving on to infrastructure, I firmly believe that Congress should first pass the important and popular USMCA trade agreement," Trump wrote in a statement. letter Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer on Tuesday night.

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The White House has worked feverishly behind the scenes for several months to try to get the USMCA adopted by the end of the summer, but Democrats still have many concerns about various provisions of the trade deal. There is no guarantee that USMCA will succeed, despite the substantive work of the administration.

He also stated that he preferred to associate any infrastructure package with repeated reauthorization for road and public transit programs, while ensuring a less ambitious package dedicated to traditional transportation uses, instead of using the same infrastructure. A broad-spectrum view of funding everything, from veterans hospitals to broadband. .

Leaders of both parties insisted that Trump's leadership was an essential ingredient for the passage of an infrastructure bill. The Democrats hoped that Republicans would support an increase in the tax on gasoline or some other source of income if Trump did so. Since their meeting on April 30, at which Trump and the Democrats agreed to pursue a $ 2 trillion plan, they have made it clear that Trump should be the one who offers a source of funding.

However, in his letter published Tuesday night, Trump set out his own expectations, suggesting that it was the vision of the Democrats who had confused them and asking them to reduce their wish list.

"It would be helpful for you to attend tomorrow's meeting with your infrastructure priorities and your specificities regarding the amount of funding you would allocate to each." Your caucus has expressed a wide range of priorities, and it is difficult which ones benefit from your support, "he said. .

He also accused the Democrats of canceling a meeting of their staff, preventing them from advancing our discussions.

The administration has considered cuts in the expenditures of the latest draft budget, as well as the potential sale of assets as possible ways to pay for any set of infrastructure. It is still unclear whether this would be enough to fund a major rebuilding of roads and bridges – and even the amount of federal funding that the White House would consider turning into a hypothetical package was unclear.