President Donald
Trump has called the
U.S.-Mexico-Canada
Agreement he
negotiated last year “a
great deal’’ for all three
countries. But the pact
faces serious hurdles getting
ratified by Congress.
The agreement replaces the
North American Free Trade
Agreement. Trump and other
U.S. critics opposed NAFTA
because it encouraged
manufacturers to close U.S.
factories, shift them to low-wage
Mexico and then ship products back to the United
States duty free. Trump’s USMCA includes provisions,
meant to appeal to Democrats and labor unions, that
would coax manufacturing back to America.
But USMCA is getting criticism
from both political parties.
Republicans complain
that Trump is keeping
taxes on imported
Canadian and Mexican steel
and aluminum – which raises
costs for metals-consuming
American companies. They want
the tariffs removed. Democrats
want the deal reworked to do more
to encourage Mexican workers to
form unions and bargain for higher
wages and better working
conditions. They also dislike the way
USMCA protects super-expensive
biologic drugs from copycat competitors
called biosimilars.
The stakes are huge. U.S. trade with Canada and
Mexico totaled nearly $1.4 trillion last year.
Source: U.S. Commerce Department Paul Wiseman; Jenni Sohn • AP
US trade in North America
In billions of dollars
New NAFTA blues
Numbers may not add
up due to rounding
Imports
from
Exports