Trump touts USMCA trade deal in latest effort to upstage impeachment trial

President Trump grinned and gave a thumbs up as he strutted to the South Lawn of the White House on Wednesday, hoping to shift public attention from his Senate impeachment trial to the signing of a long-promised trade deal with Mexico and Canada.

But even as he made good on his 2016 campaign pledge to replace NAFTA — once Canada ratifies the deal — he kept bringing up impeachment.

Before signing the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, known as USMCA, Trump joked to Republican senators at the crowded ceremony that he was only being nice to them because he needed them to acquit him at the trial.

He kidded Republican House members that they wouldn’t get any special treatment — “To hell with you,” he said — because the impeachment action had moved out of their chamber.

He did not mention Democrats even though they played a major role in drafting the accord and then helped pass it with overwhelming majorities in both the House and Senate, a rare bipartisan win for the White House.

No Democrats attended the event. House Democrats said they were not invited; the White House said some Democrats were.

Trump, who is notable for his light public schedule, is suddenly engaged in a blitz of activity, hoping to make the case to Americans that he is busy running the country while Democrats are engaged in a partisan attempt to take him down.