U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and his staff will head to Michigan this week to meet with United Auto Workers (UAW) union leaders in an effort to win labor backing for a new North American free trade deal, the union said Friday.

Lighthizer is set to meet tomorrow with union officials in Dearborn to answer questions about the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), UAW officials said.

Lighthizer said that the USMCA is “clearly better than” the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that preceded it.

Business leaders and Democrats say gaining labor approval will be critical to winning its final approval in Washington.

If Congress does not pass the USMCA, then the United States has “no credibility at all” with China or “on any deals with your other trading partners,” Lighthizer said at the hearing.

The USMCA deal would boost requirements for North American content for vehicles and requires that 40 percent of vehicle value be made in high-wage areas paying US$16 an hour, requiring significant automotive production in the United States and Canada.

Many Democrats argue the agreement needs improvements to ensure that higher labor and environmental standards can be fully enforced before they can support it. The pact has been billed as requiring Mexico to change its labor laws to allow unions with true collective bargaining power a fairer chance to form, a provision aimed at pushing up Mexican wages.

And many Republicans, as well as companies and farm groups, say the administration must agree to drop tariffs on aluminum and steel imports from Canada and Mexico before the agreement can move to a vote. (SD-Agencies)