We are getting one step closer to having a deal with our neighboring countries.
President Donald Trump signed the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USCMA) into law at a White House ceremony Jan. 29. The U.S. is the second country to ratify the trade pact, and now all eyes turn to Canada as the bill navigates the country’s legislative process.
In Trump’s remarks at the ceremony, he called USMCA the “largest, fairest, most balanced, and modern trade agreement ever achieved,” and referred to the previous pact as a “nightmare.”
“This is a colossal victory for our farmers, ranchers, energy workers, factory workers, and American workers in all 50 states and, you could almost say, beyond—because it’s all beyond,” he said.
Trump said the USMCA is estimated to add 1.2 percent to the U.S. GDP, and create “countless new American jobs.”
Implementing a new deal
The USMCA was passed through the Senate two weeks prior, after much back-and-forth activity with the House of Representatives. Mexico ratified USMCA last summer, and Canada is last to sign the deal. Once Canada signs the deal, the pact won’t come into force for at least 90 days.
However, this is easier said than done. USMCA has been tied up in Canada’s legislature since the country’s election process in October. After the Liberals lost their majority to the Conservatives, the two prominent parties have had to work closer together to hash out an agreement.
If the Liberals had stayed the majority, they could have fast-tracked the legislative process to get USMCA through. Instead, the party must work with the Conservatives, who have had strong oppositions to the deal.
Lawrence Herman, an international trade lawyer at Herman & Associates, told news outlet Financial Post that the series of discussions between the two parties could take six weeks or longer.
Industry reactions
The news of the trade pact signing was largely met with positive reactions. Jennifer Houston, president of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, was present at the White House signing ceremony.
“Add [the signing] to the new waters rule that was finalized last week, new proposed grazing regulations, and new proposed rules that would provide much-needed relief the National Environmental Policy Act, and it’s easy to see that 2020 is off to a truly historic start for U.S. beef producers,” Houston said.
California Farm Bureau (CFB) also commended the signing. “President Trump’s signature finalizes U.S. adoption of the agreement and puts us that much closer to realizing its full benefits,” CFB President Jamie Johansson said. “Once it’s implemented, the agreement will help farmers, ranchers and thousands of other Californians whose jobs are tied to agricultural exports.”
However, the signing was met with opposition by R-CALF USA, who had strongly argued for the inclusion of mandatory country-of-origin labeling in the deal. “America’s cattle producers cannot compete even in their home market while imported cattle and beef remain indistinguishable from beef produced exclusively from cattle born and raised on America’s farms and ranches,” said R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard in a released statement.
The statement continued on to read that R-CALF will now be turning to Congress “for help in mitigating the harm the USMCA will continue to cause rural America.” — Anna Miller, WLJ editor
