Did Canada Sign the Usmca Agreement

In 2018, the United States, Canada, and Mexico signed the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), a new trade deal that would replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). However, the USMCA had to be ratified by each country`s government before it could go into effect.

In the United States, the USMCA was ratified by Congress in January 2020 and signed by President Trump shortly after. In Mexico, the deal was ratified by the Senate in June 2019 and signed by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in December of that year.

Canada, on the other hand, experienced some delays in ratifying the agreement. While the country`s government had initially expressed support for the deal, it faced opposition from some groups who believed that the USMCA did not do enough to protect Canadian industries like dairy and aluminum.

In June 2019, Canada announced that it would not ratify the USMCA unless the United States lifted its tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum. These tariffs had been imposed by the Trump administration in 2018 and had led to trade tensions between the two countries.

After months of negotiations, Canada and the United States reached an agreement in May 2019 to lift the tariffs. However, it wasn`t until March 2020 that Canada finally ratified the USMCA. The delay was due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic, which disrupted parliamentary proceedings and made it difficult for the Canadian government to focus on trade issues.

With Canada`s ratification, the USMCA finally went into effect on July 1, 2020. The new trade deal is expected to have a significant impact on North American trade, particularly in industries like automotive and agriculture. It includes provisions on digital trade, labor standards, and environmental protections that were not included in NAFTA.

Overall, the USMCA represents a major milestone in North American trade relations. While it took some time for Canada to ratify the agreement, its eventual endorsement helped to ensure that the deal could move forward and improve economic ties between the three countries.