Trump signed and praised the USMCA during his first term but now calls the deal ‘irrelevant’
Canada and Mexico on Tuesday called for a 16-year renewal of the North American free trade agreement with the United States, in hopes of binding the three countries to a pact that US President Donald Trump has openly questioned.
The agreement is vital for Canada and Mexico, as the US is their main trading partner and the destination for 75 and 80 per cent of their exports, respectively.
In a letter Monday, Ottawa’s minister in charge of Canada-US trade Dominic LeBlanc said: “Canada recommends the renewal of the agreement for another 16 years.”
Addressed to US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Mexico’s Economy Secretary Marcelo Ebrard, the letter was penned a day before LeBlanc headed to Washington for talks on the future of the United States-Canada-Mexico Agreement (USMCA).
Afterwards, LeBlanc called Tuesday’s meeting “positive”, adding that discussions will continue in “coming days and weeks”.
At a press conference in Mexico City, Ebrard echoed the call for “the agreement to be extended for 16 years”.
Source: News - South China Morning Post
