The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, negotiated during the first Trump administration, has officially entered its six-year renewal period. Virginia Houston, the senior director of government affairs for the American Farm Bureau Federation, said the trade agreement is incredibly important for North American agriculture and industry.
“So, July 1 is the official date by which all three parties had to agree to renew the U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement. USTR now said they have not agreed to renew it, so we have entered into an annual review process with Canada and Mexico for up to the next ten years.”
The review process was outlined when the USMCA agreement was initially signed.
“When NAFTA, which is the predecessor to USMCA, was renegotiated, it included a novel review clause that said that after six years after entry into force, all three countries had to come together to agree if they wanted the agreement to renew. If they did not come to agreement, it would kick off an annual review process, which is what we’re in right now.”
Houston said there is still plenty of work to do, but progress is being made.
“Currently, the U.S. and Mexico are in bilateral negotiations on trade irritants around USMCA. Canada is being slower to join the party, but we do know that their government wants to be engaged and is also committed to keeping USMCA in place, as is Mexico, which is so important for U.S. agriculture”