'Battle' over as Trudeau, Trump, Pena Nieto sign 'new NAFTA'

November 30, 2018

The road to rewrite the North American trade agreement was a "battle," Donald Trump said Friday as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto joined him for a signing ceremony on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Buenos Aires.

Nevertheless, "battles sometimes make great friendships," Trump said as the other two leaders looked on.

Official text for the deal Trump has named the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA) has now been signed by all three countries...

Canada will change the order of the countries in its legal version of the name, putting Canada first (CUSMA.) Trudeau referred to the deal Friday morning as the "new NAFTA."...

Both Trump and Trudeau noted the deal was signed on Pena Nieto's final day in office, and thanked him for his work. A new Mexican president was elected last summer and will be sworn in Saturday... a politician who represents Mexico's left, and who has often questioned the value of the original NAFTA and international trade generally. Nevertheless, the incoming Mexican administration has said it will not stand in the way of the agreement negotiated by its predecessor. Lopez Obrador had a representative in the room through the final, tense weeks of the negotiations...

The agreement now proceeds for ratification in each country. In Canada, implementation legislation will be drafted for Parliament, and after it is reviewed, debated and passed, the federal cabinet will ratify the treaty.

Mexican legislators will also vote on the deal, but it is expected to pass...

The situation is far less certain in the U.S., where an acrimonious debate is expected, thanks to a Trump-unfriendly Democratic majority in the House of Representatives following November's midterm elections.

Even in the U.S. Senate, its final vote may be close. Some Republican senators have been critical of Trump's trade policies, while prominent Democrats, including potential presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren on Thursday, have said they cannot vote for the agreement as it stands...

This is excerpted from 30 November 2018 edition of CBC News.

 


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Topic(s): 
Rules of Origin & Trade Agreements / Trade Agreements / CUSMA/USMCA
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