Oklahoma Congressman Frank Lucas hopes President Trump’s reported trade agreement with Mexico will be the first domino in a chain of renegotiations.
Trump announced the U.S. Mexico Free Trade Agreement Monday, indicating separate deals with Mexico and Canada would replace the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Lucas thinks the deal will push along negotiations with Canada, Europe and Pacific Rim nations.
"The South Koreans and the Japanese, this should help that situation. And many of you in the oil and gas industry know that there are certain forms of steel — tubing and other things — that really are critically important to us that come from that country," Lucas said Monday at a Tulsa Regional Chamber congressional forum.
Lucas expects China will be the most resistant to a new trade deal.
"Because their trade imbalance with us is not by a few percent, it’s several hundred times. I think they have to push back harder than anyone because they have the most to lose if we go to an equitable trading situation," Lucas said.
Lucas also said there aren’t enough details to know how exactly how the reported trade deal with Mexico will play out. Lucas said the global economy is stable enough that other countries don’t need to, as Lucas sees it, benefit more than the U.S. any longer.
"This needs to be equitable. It needs to be both ways. That’s what the President, I believe, is trying to do," Lucas said. "We will see what comes from that … but I will tell you if you’re a soybean farmer, if you’re a pork producer, if you’re a dairyman, you are feeling the effects of the negotiation right now, for real."
