United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the U.S. is not renewing the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement “in its current form” — but the trade agreement will remain in place as negotiations continue.
“The United States will continue to engage with Mexico and Canada to address the Agreement’s shortcomings and our trade deficits with these countries,” Greer said in a statement on July 1.
This decision triggers a rolling annual review for up to a decade, at which point it will expire if an extension isn’t agreed upon.
Greer had a virtual meeting with Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc and Mexico Secretary of Economy Marcelo Ebrard to discuss the trade pact’s future. It was the deadline for all three partners in the pact, better known as USMCA, to indicate whether they wanted the deal renewed.
Canada and Mexico had previously said they were looking for a 16-year extension.
“We agreed on the importance of continuing our discussions and identifying ways to ensure trade and investment frameworks between Canada, the United States and Mexico continue to support North American prosperity and competitiveness,” LeBlanc said in a statement.
The trade agreement has shielded Canada and Mexico from many of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs. Both countries are being slammed by Trump’s separate sectoral tariffs on industries like steel, aluminum, automobiles and cabinetry.
The deal was negotiated during the first Trump administration to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement. The sometimes tumultuous negotiations served as an early test of Canada’s approach to the Trump administration but ultimately all three countries hailed the agreement as a success.
But Trump has continued to cast doubt on the deal’s future since his return to the White House and his embrace of a sweeping tariff campaign. He has called the agreement “irrelevant” and has said it may have served its purpose.
USMCA remains in place unless one of the partner countries gives six months’ notice that it is pulling out.
Trade negotiations between Mexico and the United States have launched but Ottawa and Washington have not started official talks yet.
Carlo Dade, director of international policy and the New North America Initiative at the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy, said the blown deadline doesn’t mean much to the future of USMCA “as long as there is constructive work and dialogue occurring.”
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