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The Trump administration formally notified Congress it’s moving forward with its plan to get the new Nafta approved -- a move that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called “not a positive step” as her party weighs whether to support the deal.

White House officials submitted a so-called Statement of Administrative Action, a step toward introducing legislation that would bring the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement into force. The move starts a minimum 30-day period for consultations between the White House and Congress to finalize the bill before a vote can take place.

This action could set up a showdown with Democrats who have opposed efforts by the Trump administration to rush a vote on the deal. While some Democrats are also pushing the White House’s goal for approval before the August recess, others are wary of delivering Trump a signature legislative victory as he hits the campaign trail for his 2020 re-election bid.
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Other Ways and Means Democrats on the trade subcommittee were less generous toward the administration’s action on Thursday. Don Beyer of Virginia called the move a “counterproductive action” that threatens to “upend a collaborative process on USMCA.”