“U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday took credit for salvaging a trilateral free trade accord with Canada and Mexico, marking it as a victory in his campaign to reshape global commerce as financial markets breathed a sigh of relief,” Reuters reports. “The deal, announced on Sunday, is a reworking of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, which underpins $1.2 trillion in trade between the three countries. Trump had described NAFTA as a bad deal for Americans and threatened to eliminate it as part of his ‘America First’ agenda.”
“The new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) is aimed at bringing more jobs into the United States, with Canada and Mexico accepting more restrictive commerce with the United States, their main export partner,” Reuters reports. “U.S., Canadian and Mexican stocks were trading higher on Monday, with the benchmark S&P 500 index .SPX rising more than 0.7 percent and the Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX index .GSPTSE gaining about 0.4 percent.”
“The deal effectively maintains the current auto sector and largely spares Canada and Mexico from the prospect of U.S. tariffs on their vehicles, although it will make it harder for global auto makers to build cars cheaply in Mexico,” Reuters reports. “‘It’s a promise made, promise kept,’ Peter Navarro, the White House trade adviser, told Fox News on Monday. ‘NAFTA is dead. We have USMCA.'”
Late last night, our deadline, we reached a wonderful new Trade Deal with Canada, to be added into the deal already reached with Mexico. The new name will be The United States Mexico Canada Agreement, or USMCA. It is a great deal for all three countries, solves the many……
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 1, 2018
….deficiencies and mistakes in NAFTA, greatly opens markets to our Farmers and Manufacturers, reduces Trade Barriers to the U.S. and will bring all three Great Nations together in competition with the rest of the world. The USMCA is a historic transaction!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 1, 2018
Congratulations to Mexico and Canada!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 1, 2018
“U.S. officials intend to sign the new trilateral deal by Nov. 30, Navarro said. It would then be submitted for approval by the U.S. Congress,” Reuters reports. “A senior source close to the trade talks said Mexico’s Videgaray, Trudeau’s chief of staff Katie Telford and White House adviser Jared Kushner helped over the weekend to facilitate Sunday’s agreement.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Hopefully, once the details are revealed, the new agreement will be an improvement over NAFTA.
