A new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement

The Voice of Canada News

The United States, Mexico and Canada announced the completion of negotiations toward a new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). The outcomes preserve key elements of this trading relationship and incorporate new and updated provisions that seek to address 21st-century trade issues and promote opportunities for the nearly half a billion people who call North America home.

In 1994, the United States, Mexico and Canada created the largest free trade region in the world with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), generating economic growth and helping to raise the standard of living for the people of all three member countries. By strengthening the rules and procedures governing trade and investment, this agreement has proved to be a solid foundation for building Canada’s prosperity and has set a valuable example of the benefits of trade liberalization for the rest of the world. The new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement will serve to reinforce Canada’s strong economic ties with the United States and Mexico.

Highlights

• Since 1994, NAFTA has generated economic growth and rising standards of living for the people of all three member countries.
• In 2017, total trilateral merchandise trade (the total of each country’s imports from one another) reached nearly US$1.1 trillion.
• Total merchandise trade between Canada and the United States has more than doubled since 1993, and has grown over nine-fold between Canada and Mexico.