Ways & Means trade panel chair ‘troubled’ by claims of ‘secret’ USTR talks

House Ways & Means trade subcommittee Chair Adrian Smith (R-NE) is “extremely troubled” by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s claims that the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is engaging in talks to update two regional trade agreements, he said on Friday. The Chamber on Thursday alleged that USTR was “secretly” renegotiating the investment language of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement and the U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement in the form of “substantive” side letters to the agreements. The talks with Canada, Mexico...