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Time for House to do some real work

After many weeks in which the U.S. House of Representatives has seemed preoccupied with impeachment hearings, action on a new trade agreement may finally be on the horizon.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., on Tuesday announced her caucus has reached agreement with the White House on the proposed U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. By most accounts, it is a better deal for Americans than the North American Free Trade Agreement it will replace.

And, you guessed it, reaction in some quarters has been purely political. “There are those who I read about in one place or another that say, ‘why would you give President Trump a victory?'” Pelosi commented on Tuesday.

“Well, why wouldn’t we?” she responded. “This is the right thing to do for our trade situation, for our workers.”

Precisely. The 25-year-old NAFTA pact was engineered by the free-trade crowd, whose arguments sound good — in theory. But wholesale elimination of limits on trade among our nation, Mexico and Canada damaged some U.S. industries badly. Many American companies rushed to close factories in the country and move production to Mexico.

Under the new pact — negotiated by the Trump administration — provisions intended to protect some U.S. workers will be implemented.

Give Pelosi and most other Democratic Party lawmakers credit for recognizing that sometimes, politics has to take a back seat to doing the right thing for Americans.

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