Donald Trump signs USMCA, ends North American Free Trade Agreement

United States President Donald Trump on January 29 inked the North American Trade pact with Mexico and Canada, talking about a positive future for the American industry. According to reports, Trump announced a Middle East peace plan on January 28 that was rejected by the Palestinians and earlier in January he entered a truce with China in regards to their ongoing trade war.

USMCA still has elements of NAFTA

According to reports, Trump said that the problem of NAFTA was finally ending. However, experts are of the opinion that the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) still has elements of the NAFTA, a deal that was formulated to create a free trade zone across North America. The USMCA replaced the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement(NAFTA) which Trump has said that it resulted in US Jobs on foreign lands.

According to reports, economists are of the opinion that the NAFTA resulted in growth and raised the level of living standards in North America. However, the USMCA changed a few rules in relation to auto manufacturing to boost American jobs and requires higher wages for a few Mexican auto workers. The new deal also results in changes to the e-commerce sector, intellectual property protections along with strict labour provisions and requiring reforms to laws in Mexico. According to reports, Mexico endorsed the new agreement on December 10 with Canada yet to endorse the agreement.

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Trump references USMCA to song YMCA

The USMCA replaced the former acronym NAFTA. Trump referenced the USMCA to the hit song YMCA by Village People. He said that people forgot about USMCA but thinking of the song made them remember. The USMCA is a free trade agreement between the United States, Mexico and Canada. It came into being as a result of the NAFTA by its member states which made an informal agreement to the set terms on September 20, 2018, followed by a formal agreement on October 1. The negotiations mainly focused on steel and aluminium tariffs, dairy, egg, auto markets and poultry markets.

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