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Congressman Lamborn Sends Letter to President Trump on Troubling Language in Trade Deal

November 16, 2018

Washington, D.C. - Today, Congressman Doug Lamborn (CO-05), along with 45 other cosigners, sent a letter to President Trump urging him to remove the sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) language that Canada insisted on adding to the upcoming US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

Although Congressman Lamborn applauds the president's hard work to negotiate a new trilateral free trade agreement with Mexico and Canada, a trade agreement is no place for the adoption of social policy. As a sovereign nation, the United States has the right to decide when, whether and how to tackle issues of civil rights, protected classes, and workplace rights.

At the same time the Trump Administration is carrying out a cohesive agenda regarding policies surrounding sexual orientation and gender identity, in the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services specifically, it is deeply troubling that the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has included contradictory language in the U.S-Mexico-Canada Agreement. This is the first time SOGI language has been included in a free trade agreement. For that reason, Congressman Lamborn strongly urges President Trump to remove SOGI language from USMCA.

Congressman Lamborn released the following statement regarding the letter:

"It is insulting to our sovereignty to submit to social policies in a trade agreement which the United States Congress has so far refused to accept. President Trump has a stellar record with social conservatives, but allowing USTR to include Canada's SOGI language in a free trade agreement would be an unnecessary black eye. My concern is the precedent this could set for activist courts to cite as Congressional support for SOGI language once the USMCA is adopted. I strongly urge him to remove the troubling language in the deal that was adopted behind the scenes."

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