As United States President Donald Trump barrels forward with tariff threats against key trading partners Canada and Mexico, a renegotiation of the three countries’ trade agreement could be in the offing.
In his first term as president, Trump pushed to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement with the current United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA.
Under Trump’s leadership, the US added a clause, Article 34.7, which requires a joint review of the pact within six years, a deadline that lands on July 1, 2026.
The agreement also includes a sunset clause to render the pact void by 2036 in the case of nonrenewal and a mandatory consultation with American stakeholders that is due to start in October.
While the USMCA does not include much detail on what that review would look like, it appears likely that Trump wants to rewrite the agreement entirely, said Vina Nadjibulla, vice president of research and strategy at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada,
“President Trump’s tariff threat and his overall language and tone of coercion toward Canada has everyone in agreement that he does want to see USMCA fully renegotiated and much sooner than July 2026 or even October,” Nadjibulla told Al Jazeera.
The Trump administration is seeking to rewrite numerous trade rules to extract concessions from other countries, boost domestic production and increase government revenues.
Trump’s threats have caused particular consternation in Canada and Mexico, which are now…
