Democrats are still holding out hope they can sculpt the new NAFTA to their liking despite the acrimonious debate over whether to impeach Donald Trump and the president’s personal attacks on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

An exchange of insults between Pelosi and Trump after a scuttled White House infrastructure meeting last week, and the ongoing debate among House Democrats whether to impeach the president, have fanned doubts about whether the two sides can cooperate enough to pass the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement -- Trump’s most urgent legislative priority as he heads into 2020 elections.

Democratic lawmakers and their aides say the sides can look past the squabbling to reach a deal that can pass the Democrat-controlled House. Still, they are urging the White House to speed up collaboration and start addressing their concerns to get a vote on the agreement by year-end.

USMCA Effort

The infrastructure meeting was a setback for those in Congress who were hoping for more cooperation on agenda items that matter to both sides, said a senior Democratic aide, who declined to be identified. However, instructions from the speaker to her members haven’t changed and she’s in no way abandoning the work on USMCA, the aide said.

In a step viewed as positive, the speaker this month created working groups to negotiate with the administration on areas in USMCA they’d like to see changes, including provisions on labor, environment, pharmaceuticals and enforcement. The removal of U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada and Mexico this month also cleared a hurdle for the Democrats.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer in an interview Tuesday downplayed the effect of Trump’s angry outburst toward Pelosi on the USMCA process, and emphasized the need for the White House to address Democratic policy objections.

"We are trying to get to yes," Hoyer said.

Kill NAFTA

Pelosi has made clear repeatedly that rushing a vote -- like the president has said was necessary -- would be a bad idea. There’s precedent for Pelosi stalling trade agreements in Congress that she felt weren’t strong enough on labor and the environment.

The risk for Democrats is that Trump may follow through on his threat to withdraw from the original Nafta, a scenario that would increase tariffs across the continent.

Both parties realize the importance to the economy of getting the agreement approved, said Clete Willems, a former senior White House trade official who is now a partner at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP in Washington. “I hope that both sides will put politics aside and get this passed,’’ he said. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, who led the re-negotiation of Nafta, and Pelosi “are professionals.”

It “would be a sad commentary on the state of our affairs’’ if Pelosi and her caucus reject USMCA because Democrats don’t want to give Trump a win for 2020, Marc Short, Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff, said Wednesday. Pence will be in Ottawa on Thursday to advance the deal, which the Canadian and Mexican legislatures also still need to pass. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday introduced legislation to ratify USMCA.

2020 Elections

The administration is encouraging U.S. lawmakers and businesses to lobby Pelosi’s office “to ask her to bring this forward for a vote in Congress because we think we have the votes,” Short said on CNBC.

The Trump administration is eyeing a vote before the August congressional recess in order to protect it from the 2020 electoral cycle, said U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s John Murphy.

His organization remains optimistic about ratification this year. "Beneath the news of the day, there have been positive developments," he said.

While a number of outstanding issues need to be resolved before a vote can take place, the gaps between Democrats and the administration “are bridgeable” and don’t require reopening the deal, Murphy said.

“I have been doing this for 20 years and in every trade agreement there are issues that need to be addressed,” he said.

Linda Dempsey, a vice president at the National Association of Manufacturers, said outreach by Lighthizer in Congress has built momentum for a deal. "There’s a lot of goodwill," she said.