- NAFTA: US, Canada, Mexico Finally Agrees on Trade
President Donald Trump on Monday inked a new trade deal with Canada and Mexico after months of speculations and disagreements to finally eased investors’ worries.
While the United States reached an agreement with Mexico in August, the world’s largest economy couldn’t convince Ottawa to do the same until on Sunday.
The new trade agreement, called the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), will help bring more jobs into the United States, while Canada and Mexico accept a more restrictive commerce with the United States, their main trade partner.
“These measures will support many – hundreds of thousands – American jobs,” Trump said at the White House, describing the trade deal as “the most important” the United States had ever made.
“It means far more American jobs, and these are high-quality jobs,” he said. The president had repeatedly called NAFTA a terrible deal for the United States.
Still, most experts believe job gains are years away but agreed that the victory will aid Trump campaign rallies ahead of November 6 congressional elections.
Speaking on the new agreement, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, said while the agreement removed uncertainty, Canada had made some difficult compromises.
“We had to make compromises, and some were more difficult than others,” Trudeau said at a news conference. “We never believed that it would be easy, and it wasn’t, but today is a good day for Canada.”
Canada had to give more market access to U.S. imports, a move Canada’s dairy industry criticized.
The Canadian dollar gained against most currencies, rose to 1.6661 against the pound.
