By: Nikita Kochhar
September 29 2020
Joe Biden voted for NAFTA
Share Article:
Fact-Check
The Verdict True
In a roll call vote on the passage of the bill to implement the NAFTA during a session of 103rd Congress on Nov 20,1993, Joe Biden voted for the bill.
Claim ID 14b65893
In a roll call vote on the passage of the bill to implement the NAFTA during a session of 103rd Congress on Nov 20,1993, Joe Biden voted for the bill.President Donald Trump claimed during the Republican National Convention that Democratic nominee Joe Biden had voted in favor of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a treaty entered into by the United States, Canada, and Mexico; and which went into effect on Jan 1, 1994. Although a free trade had existed between the US and Canada since 1989, NAFTA broadened its scope. As per the United States Senate records, in a roll call vote on the passage of the bill to implement the NAFTA during the first session of the 103rd Congress on Nov 20, 1993, Joe Biden was one of the 61 voters who stood in favor of the bill, against the 38 who voted against. In an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sept 10, 2020, the former Vice President said that he was initially in favor of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which he voted for in 1993. However, on being asked why he didn’t renegotiate NAFTA, he said, “because we had a Republican Congress that wouldn’t go along with us renegotiating”.