‘Work on This Agreement is Never Going to be Finished,’ Tai Says of USMCA

July 1, 2021 by Kate Michael
‘Work on This Agreement is Never Going to be Finished,’ Tai Says of USMCA
Katherine Tai appeared before the House Ways and Means Committee last year. (Screen grab from CSPAN)

WASHINGTON — At the one-year anniversary of the USMCA trade agreement coming into force, trade representatives from the United States, Mexico, and Canada are patting themselves on the back for a job well done. They have good reason, as the treaty happened during a challenging time for all three economies in a global pandemic and contains 21st-century upgrades that reduce frictions in trade. Still, Katherine Tai, the U.S. Trade Representative, says “working on this agreement is never going to be finished.”

At a discussion of lessons learned from the first year of USMCA at the non-profit Wilson Center, representatives from all three countries identified how, as Mary Ng, minister of Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade for Canada said, the “framework of the New NAFTA helps us… to become the most competitive region in the world.”

Like the old agreement, NAFTA, which was set in place in 1994, USMCA ensures the prosperity and cooperation of all three countries, but it modernizes the agreement and makes specific changes to digital trade, intellectual property provisions, small and medium enterprises, and labor and environmental practices, among other amendments. It also has mechanisms for regulating compliance and requires an overall periodic mandatory review. 

“No other free trade agreement has been updated in this fashion,” said Wilson Center CEO Ambassador Mark Green. “All three governments should be commended for their vision and their willingness to take on the risks of renegotiation with no guarantee of success.” 


“What we have done is set the course for us to work together in the years to come,” said Ng.

And as the pandemic has reinforced the deeply interconnected nature of societies, USMCA has proven its importance, especially in near-shoring crucial sectors and supply chains, and helping each of the three countries to face the challenges of the pandemic to their competitive advantage.


“Yes, the pandemic has been a real curveball, but we are here for each other,” said Tai, calling USMCA “an inclusive process [which] can lead to a more inclusive outcome” and “the beginning of the trajectory for a new generation of trade agreements.” 

But while she said renegotiating USMCA was about “commit[ing] to advancing a positive economic agenda that commits to… pursue negotiations that raise standards and that promote a race to the top,” she also admitted that USMCA was a continual work in progress.

Shared priorities for collaboration in the year ahead include creating more balanced, reciprocal trade that supports high-paying jobs to grow the North American economy along long-established and deeply integrated supply chains. And in addition to mutual economic prosperity and raising the standard of living for all, a goal of USMCA is to offer reliability that helps entrepreneurs to innovate and adapt.

“By working hard in each of our countries to implement the ‘New NAFTA’, we’re sending a message to our workers,” said Ng, “that we will lead the world in a greener, safer, and more [secure] economic recovery.”


There is much to be celebrated at the first anniversary of the implementation of USMCA, but Tai warned that the work continues. 

“These agreements are about relationships,” she said, “and relationships are dynamic just as economies are dynamic.”

A+
a-

In The News

Health

Voting

Trade

February 10, 2023
by Dan McCue
US Farm Exports Reached Record $196B in 2022

WASHINGTON — International sales of U.S. farm and food products reached $196 billion last year, shattering the previous export record... Read More

WASHINGTON — International sales of U.S. farm and food products reached $196 billion last year, shattering the previous export record set in 2021. According to the Commerce Department, which released final 2022 trade data this week, U.S. agricultural exports increased 11% compared to a year earlier,... Read More

December 6, 2022
by Dan McCue
Charleston, SC, Now Boasts East Coast’s Deepest Harbor

CHARLESTON, S.C. — With the successful completion of a $580 million harbor-deepening project, Charleston Harbor is now the deepest harbor... Read More

CHARLESTON, S.C. — With the successful completion of a $580 million harbor-deepening project, Charleston Harbor is now the deepest harbor on the U.S. East Coast at 52 feet. The new depth means the biggest cargo ships currently in service can now access the state’s port terminals... Read More

December 5, 2022
by TWN
Philip Morris International Taking Proactive Role to Help Consumers Know, Fight Illegal Trade

WASHINGTON — Illegal trade isn’t good. It’s not good for companies who depend on the revenue from their products to... Read More

WASHINGTON — Illegal trade isn’t good. It’s not good for companies who depend on the revenue from their products to expand and add jobs, and it’s certainly not good for the consumers who unknowingly shell out considerable sums of money for knockoffs that ultimately fall far... Read More

December 5, 2022
by Dan McCue
Investigation Finds Four Firms Evading Anti-Dumping Rules on Chinese Solar Panels

WASHINGTON — An investigation by the U.S. Commerce Department has found that four companies have been sending their products through... Read More

WASHINGTON — An investigation by the U.S. Commerce Department has found that four companies have been sending their products through Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia in order to circumvent regulations aimed at curtailing the dumping of cheap Chinese solar cells and modules on the U.S. market. The... Read More

US Businesses Propose Hiding Trade Data Used to Trace Abuse

A group of major U.S. businesses wants the government to hide key import data -- a move trade experts say... Read More

A group of major U.S. businesses wants the government to hide key import data -- a move trade experts say would make it more difficult for Americans to link the products they buy to labor abuse overseas. The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee is made up of executives... Read More

July 22, 2022
by Dan McCue
US, Canada Demand Talks Over Mexican Energy Policies

WASHINGTON — Just days after the second anniversary of the USMCA trade agreement, two of its three signers, the U.S.... Read More

WASHINGTON — Just days after the second anniversary of the USMCA trade agreement, two of its three signers, the U.S. and Canada, are demanding dispute settlement talks with the third, Mexico, over domestic energy policies they say are undermining cross-border supplies. The request, first announced by... Read More

News From The Well
scroll top