Under the leadership of President Donald J. Trump, the United States renegotiated the North American Free Trade Agreement and replaced it with an updated and rebalanced agreement that works much better for North America, the United States, Mexico and Canada (USMCA), which entered into force on July 1, 2020. The USMCA is a mutually beneficial victory for North American workers, farmers, ranchers and businesses. The agreement creates more balanced and reciprocal trade that supports well-paying jobs for Americans and grows the North American economy. On April 3, 2020, Canada notified the United States and Mexico that it had completed its domestic ratification process for the agreement. [104] The office of the US Trump administration. The novelty of the USMCA is the inclusion of Chapter 33, which deals with macroeconomic policies and exchange rate issues. This is seen as important as it could set a precedent for future trade agreements. [54] Chapter 33 sets out requirements for monetary and macroeconomic transparency that, in the event of an infringement, would constitute grounds for recourse under Chapter 20. [54] The United States, Canada and Mexico currently meet all of these transparency requirements in addition to the essential policy requirements consistent with the articles of the International Monetary Fund. [55] The United States, Mexico and Canada have agreed on the most advanced, comprehensive and modern environmental chapter of all trade agreements. Like the working chapter, the environment chapter places all environmental provisions at the heart of the agreement and makes them enforceable.
The agreement between the United States, Mexico and Canada is based on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which was originally signed on September 1. It entered into force in January 1994. This Agreement is the result of more than a year of negotiations, which included possible tariffs imposed by the United States against Canada, as well as the possibility of separate bilateral agreements. [20] In the 2016 US presidential election, Donald Trump`s campaign included a promise to renegotiate NAFTA or cancel it if renegotiations failed. [21] After the election, Trump made a number of changes that affected trade relations with other countries. The withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, the cessation of participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations and the significant increase in tariffs with China were some of the measures he implemented and reaffirmed his serious commitment to amending NAFTA. [22] Much of the debate about the merits and shortcomings of the USMCA is similar to that surrounding all free trade agreements (FTAs), such as the nature of free trade agreements as public goods, potential violations of national sovereignty, and the role of business, labour, environmental and consumer interests in shaping the language of trade agreements. In addition to the provisions of the original NAFTA, the USMCA borrows heavily from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). On April 3, 2020, Mexico announced that it was ready to implement the agreement and that Canada would accede to it. [15] The agreement entered into force on 1 July 2020. [16] [17] [18] [19] The renegotiated agreement contains a chapter on macroeconomic policies and exchange rate issues with new political and transparent monetary commitments.
The chapter will address unfair monetary practices by requiring high-level commitments to refrain from competitive devaluations and target exchange rates, while significantly increasing transparency and providing accountability mechanisms. This approach is unprecedented in the context of a trade agreement and will contribute to strengthening macroeconomic and exchange rate stability. The agreement is referred to differently by each signatory – in the United States, it is called the Agreement between the United States, Mexico and Canada (USMCA). [1] [23] in Canada, it is officially known as the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CASMAA) in English[24] and the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) in French; [25] and in Mexico, it is called Tratado entre México, Estados Unidos y Canadá (T-MEC). [26] [27] The agreement is sometimes referred to as the “New NAFTA”[28][29], in reference to the previous trilateral agreement it aims to replace, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). On December 10, 2019, the three countries entered into a revised agreement with the USMCA. On January 29, 2020, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs Chrystia Freeland introduced the USMCA Implementation Act C-4 [93] in the House of Commons and passed first reading without a recorded vote. On February 6, the bill passed second reading in the House of Commons by 275 votes to 28, with the Bloc Québécois voting against and all other parties voting in favour, and was referred to the Standing Committee on International Trade.
[99] [100] [101] On February 27, 2020, the committee voted to send the bill to the house plenary for third reading without amendments. Growing objections within member states to U.S. trade policy and various aspects of the USMCA have impacted the signature and ratification process. Mexico said it would not sign the USMCA if tariffs on steel and aluminum remained in place. [62] There has been speculation following the results of the US summit on November 6, 2018. . .