Pence heads to Pa. again to tout trade pact

Vice President Mike Pence (Official White House photo by D. Myles Cullen)

Vice President Mike Pence is making his second visit in two months to the presidential battleground state of Pennsylvania to urge Congress to pass President Donald Trump's rewrite of a trade pact with Canada and Mexico.

Pence's planned Thursday visit is to a crane manufacturing facility in southern Pennsylvania, a few miles from the Maryland border.

The visit comes as House Democrats and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer report progress toward a deal that would clear the way for Congress to approve Trump's U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

Pence visited a York-based robotics maker in June and predicted the trade pact would boost America's manufacturing sector.

Trump's campaign is ramping up its re-election effort in a state where he scored a surprise 2016 win and delivered a crushing loss to Democrat Hillary Clinton.