Last year, leaders of the three nations signed the final approval for Trump's request to renew the North American Free Trade Agreement. He believed this deal contributed to the loss of millions of U.S. manufacturing jobs since its inception.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer confirmed this Friday that the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which replaces its 26-year-old predecessor, is due to take effect this July 1.


Increasing Manufacturing Capacity and Investment in North America

Trump signed the USMCA at the end of January this year. After Canada signed the agreement for its ratification, the three nations mobilized domestic laws and regulations to fit USMCA standards.

The U.S. president was always vocal about believing that the 1994 NAFTA was the "worst deal ever," and now that the opportunity came for a change, he was elated to announce its closure and its newer form that is designed to benefit more American workers.

The old agreement was the product of a heated negotiation process that started back in the administration of Enrique Peña Nieto.

Now, according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative, the USMCA was refashioned with "significant improvements and modernized approaches to rules of origin, agricultural market access, intellectual property, digital trade, financial services, labor, and numerous other sectors."

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, where trading is delayed or suspended in a "closed global economy," industry workers become more vulnerable to job loss because of the reliance on the manufacturing of goods and products overseas.

Lighthizer said that the crisis and recovery from the coronavirus pandemic would demonstrate that the United States must be able to increase manufacturing capacity and investment in the North American region.

If NAFTA proves successful in its goals, then the Trump administration will finally achieve the renewal of manufacturing in the United States to boost the economy.


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May Not be "Good for Mexico"

Business enterprises in Mexico believe that their president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, might have made a wrong move signing the USMCA. President of the employer's federation Coparmex Gustavo Hoyos called the Lopez Obrador administration a "bad negotiator." 

Mexico's deputy foreign minister for North America, Jesus Seade, admitted that some of the adjustments made in the USMCA were reasonable, but may not be "good for Mexico."

Last year, Seade posted on Twitter that Mexico was satisfied with the new agreement, adding that it was beneficial for the three nations.

There was a last-minute inclusion for a better definition of steel and aluminum in the rules of origin, which was to be "melted and poured in North America."

In the initial USMCA document, it required that 70% of metals used in North America must come from the region. Still, there were no specifications about production methods, opening opportunities for possible negotiations with China and other countries.

Both Canada and Mexico approved the seven-year phase-in of the standard for steel. Although the demand for aluminum was dropped, it would be open for reconsideration in the following ten years.