The United States, Mexico and Canada signed a deal Tuesday to finalize their new trade agreement, paving the way to ratification after more than two years of arduous negotiations.
However, the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump in the US Senate would likely delay Congressional ratification of the agreement until next year, said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
In reality, it is the second time the three countries have triumphantly announced the conclusion of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), the deal meant to replace the 25-year-old NAFTA, which President Donald Trump complains has been “a disaster” for the US.
First signed in November 2018, USMCA got bogged down in political complications, particularly in the United States, where opposition Democrats questioned whether it would really force Mexico to deliver on labor reforms meant to level the playing field between Mexican and American workers.
But another year of talks produced a series of additions — notably including tougher enforcement of labor provisions — that won the blessing of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the key Democrat needed to move the agreement forward, as well as the largest US labor federation, the AFL-CIO.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who presided over the signing ceremony, said the deal “will benefit both Mexican and American workers.” He hailed it as a “driver of growth” for all three countries’ economies.
“Some people thought it was impossible to reach this deal. Some people thought we wouldn’t be able to agree on anything (with Trump). But look what we’ve done,” said the leftist leader.
The final deal, which must now be ratified in all three countries’ legislatures, will replace the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, the historic pact that erased nearly all tariffs across the region, deeply integrated its economies and helped turn Mexico into an export powerhouse.
