By William Mauldin 

The U.S. Senate easily passed an overhaul of North America's trade rules on Thursday, sending a Trump administration priority to the president's desk.

The Senate voted 89 to 10 in support of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which replaces the 26-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement. The pact updates trading rules in the continent to address 21st-century technology, safeguard environmental and labor standards in Mexico and toughen requirements for auto-industry trade among the three countries.

Notably, the vote reassures farmers, manufacturers and other businesses that tariff-free trade will continue in North America. President Trump repeatedly threatened to pull the U.S. out of Nafta if Canada, Mexico and lawmakers on Capitol Hill didn't commit to an overhaul of the deal originally passed during the Clinton administration, and congressional passage helps the president fulfill a top campaign promise from 2016.

The pact's passage marks a rare moment of bipartisan cooperation on Capitol Hill against the backdrop of a planned impeachment trial, which Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) began discussing within minutes of the trade vote. The strong Democratic support for USMCA showed the extensive overlap in the trade priorities of Mr. Trump and many Democrats, who often see the benefits of tariffs to enforce trade rules.

Robert Lighthizer, the U.S. trade representative, said the strong level of bipartisan support heralds a new chapter in Washington trade policy. "USMCA is now the new gold standard against which all future trade agreements will be judged," he said in a statement.

The three countries first signed USMCA in 2018, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, backed by labor unions, threatened to block passage without stronger enforcement provisions to ensure Mexican factories follow through with new labor requirements. The House in December approved legislation to implement USMCA by a 385 to 41 vote, with 193 Democrats and 192 Republicans backing the pact.

Sens. Sherrod Brown (D., Ohio) and Ron Wyden (D., Ore.) pushed a proposal to boost enforcement, helping House lawmakers develop a new version with the Trump administration that won rare backing from the AFL-CIO, which usually opposes agreements that open up trade.

"When the Trump administration unveiled the original version of this proposal, it was stunning to see how weak it was in terms of trade enforcement," Sen. Wyden said Thursday before the vote. "Sen. Brown and I decided that was unacceptable and we were going to create a trade environment regime with real teeth."

Democrats' close cooperation with Mr. Trump on North American trade stood in contrast to their criticism of his "phase one" China deal that Mr. Trump signed with Beijing officials at the White House on Wednesday. The China deal, which requires purchases of American exports and leaves tariffs in place, won't be submitted to Congress.

"Structural reforms in China's economy just did not make the final cut" in that deal, said Sen. Tom Carper (D., Del.), who criticized that pact but is supporting USMCA. He says it contains key improvements on environmental rules even if all green issues aren't addressed.

Some Democrats in the House and Senate said USMCA won't bring back the jobs lost under Nafta or won't do enough to address climate change.

"Despite the fact that it includes very good labor provisions, I am voting against USMCA because it does not address climate change, the greatest threat facing the planet," said Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.)

Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune said in a statement that the environmental group looks forward to "working with Congress to craft a new model of trade that replaces Trump's giveaways to corporate polluters."

Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Democratic presidential candidate, said Mr. Trump's trade policy had failed to follow through on promises to "stop the outsourcing of American jobs to Mexico, China and other low-wage countries."

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) voted for USMCA, and Democratic front-runner Joe Biden said he supported the deal.

Meanwhile, some Republicans complained that priorities of American companies -- including big drugmakers' demands to defend biologic drugs from generic imitators -- were abandoned as House Democrats pushed for modifications that favored labor standards.

Sen. Pat Toomey (R., Pa.), who says auto rules in the pact will hurt economic growth, attempted to impede passage with a procedural objection that failed on the Senate floor.

Mexican legislators last month approved the new version of USMCA, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau acknowledged last month that Canada would likely be the last country to ratify the revised North American trade deal. Canada's Parliament, which had an election in October, isn't scheduled to return until Jan. 27.

Mr. Trudeau is running a minority government and needs the support of another party to pass legislation. The opposition Conservatives have said they would support ratification, and the trade deal is expected to pass after legislative committees review it.

"All eyes will be on Canada to get the job done quickly so we can all work together to implement this agreement," said Sen. Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) on Wednesday.

--Kim Mackrael in Ottawa contributed to this article.

Write to William Mauldin at william.mauldin@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 16, 2020 18:05 ET (23:05 GMT)