In a celebration on the South Lawn of the White House Wednesday, President Trump gathered with blue-collar workers, union leaders, CEOs, and Republican lawmakers to sign the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) trade deal into law. It was a hard-fought campaign promise three years in the making that helped many Americans, but NBC Nightly News didn’t think it was noteworthy as they spent two minutes and 41 seconds on impeachment.
Things weren’t much better on ABC’s World News Tonight and the CBS Evening News as they downplayed it heavily.
ABC anchor David Muir sprinted past the signing of the USMCA via a news brief lasting just 17 seconds. “President Trump tonight fulfilling a campaign promise, signing a new trade deal with Mexico and Canada, the USMCA. With new provisions on digital commerce, the origin of auto parts and minimum wage,” he quickly reported.
Muir even tried to give credit for the law to Democrats and fretted that they weren’t invited to the signing ceremony: “It won bipartisan support after a year of negotiations with Democrats. Democrats were not invited to the ceremony.” Meanwhile, ABC had dedicated almost four minutes (3:56) to impeachment that evening.
Speaking of impeachment, CBS White House correspondent Weijia Jiang crammed 15 seconds about the USMCA into her impeachment report on the CBS Evening News. The entire segment ran for one minute and 49 seconds (1:36 on just impeachment and related topics). Here’s what she had to say:
TRUMP: We're finally ending the NAFTA nightmare.
JIANG: Even as President Trump signed a new North American trade deal today, he injected impeachment into his remarks while thanking Republican senators.
TRUMP: Maybe I’m being just nice to them because I want their vote.
In contrast, Fox News Channel’s Special Report spent one minute and 21 seconds informing viewers about the historic trade deal. Anchor Bret Baier noted: “President Trump is celebrating another political triumph. The President signing the new North American trade deal. An agreement he calls cutting edge and state of the art, also was [a] bipartisan piece of legislation.”
“But over the past three years, President Trump has steadily built a case to dramatically rewrite the trade relationship between the United States, Canada, and Mexico. And he sold it to Congress,” reported chief White House correspondent John Roberts.
Inversely to Muir, Roberts actually noted that Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) tried to swoop in and steal credit for the deal before the President even had a chance to “put pen to paper.” “We were able to make vast improvements. If it weren't, we would not have been able to pass the bill,” she told the press that morning.
“The South Lawn ceremony was, in part, to draw contrast with the proceedings on the Capitol Hill. The President thanking Republican senators for their support,” he added.
The transcripts are below, click "expand" to read:
ABC’s World News Tonight
January 29, 2020
6:45:46 p.m. Eastern [17 seconds]DAVID MUIR: President Trump tonight fulfilling a campaign promise, signing a new trade deal with Mexico and Canada, the USMCA. With new provisions on digital commerce, the origin of auto parts and minimum wage. It won bipartisan support after a year of negotiations with Democrats. Democrats were not invited to the ceremony.
CBS Evening News
January 29, 2020
6:37:21 p.m. Eastern [15 seconds](…)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We're finally ending the NAFTA nightmare.
WEIJIA JIANG: Even as President Trump signed a new North American trade deal today, he injected impeachment into his remarks while thanking Republican senators.
TRUMP: Maybe I’m being just nice to them because I want their vote.
(…)
Fox News Channel’s Special Report
January 29, 2020
6:38:03 p.m. Eastern [1 minute 21 seconds]BRET BAIER: Also tonight, President Trump is celebrating another political triumph. The President signing the new North American trade deal. An agreement he calls cutting edge and state of the art, also was [a] bipartisan piece of legislation. Chief White House correspondent John Roberts has the story tonight, live from the north lawn. Good evening, John.
JOHN ROBERTS: Good evening to you, Bret. On the USMCA, it was a campaign promise that the President's opponents, even some of his supporters didn't see a need for back in 2016. But over the past three years, President Trump has steadily built a case to dramatically rewrite the trade relationship between the United States, Canada, and Mexico. And he sold it to Congress.
[Cuts to video]
With the backdrop of workers and union leaders, and corporate bigwigs in the audience, President Trump today celebrated the biggest bipartisan win of his presidency, signing the USMCA into law.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Everybody said this was a deal that could not be done, too complicated, too big, couldn't be done. We got it done.
ROBERTS: The President hadn't even put pen to paper before House Speaker Nancy Pelosi claimed credit for it.
SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): We were able to make vast improvements. If it weren't, we would not have been able to pass the bill.
ROBERTS: The south lawn ceremony was, in part, to draw contrast with the proceedings on the Capitol Hill. The President thanking Republican senators for their support.
TRUMP: I want their vote.
(…)
