To the editor:

Now that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has indicated she will support the USMCA, President Donald Trump is thrilled with her decision. The so-called Patriot Act, and Obamacare, were both passed without any federal lawmaker having a chance to read the then proposed legislation. It isn’t much better with the 1,800-plus pages of the USMCA, since it is on fast-track procedure, in that Congress has to vote for all of it or reject it all together. All the proponents are saying what a wonderful trade deal this will be for America.

Hardly, since within the legislation there is an unelected bureaucracy that can add, delete, or otherwise change parts of this bill, without approval of Congress. And, if the USMCA was such a good idea, then where are the escape clauses in the 1,800-plus pages, if the economy of the United States continues to weaken from following the initial language of this bill, or from changes that unelected bureaucrats will undoubtedly make as time goes on?

Our U.S.A. immigration, abortion, gun laws, judicial decisions and more can all be overridden, since the USMCA siphons away more of our sovereignty. Trump’s enthusiastic support of this bill shows that he hasn’t read it at even a cursory level.

Here’s a quick history lesson and recent discoveries about the text of the USMCA. “The TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) is a horrible deal that is going to lead to nothing but trouble.” – Donald Trump Nov. 10, 2015. Then why would President Trump be pushing for the United States Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA), when researchers from the University of Ottawa, have discovered that 57% of the text of the USMCA, is copied from the TPP mentioned above, that Trump said four years ago, was “nothing but trouble?”

Leo R. Lindquist

Balaton