ed. note: The agreement must be approved by Congress, which is not going to take it up before the Nov. 6 midterm elections.

USTR
September 30, 2018

Joint Statement from United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland

“Today, Canada and the United States reached an agreement, alongside Mexico, on a new, modernized trade agreement for the 21st Century: the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). USMCA will give our workers, farmers, ranchers and businesses a high-standard trade agreement that will result in freer markets, fairer trade and robust economic growth in our region.  It will strengthen the middle class, and create good, well-paying jobs and new opportunities for the nearly half billion people who call North America home.

“We look forward to further deepening our close economic ties when this new agreement enters into force. 

“We would like to thank Mexican Economy Secretary Ildefonso Guajardo for his close collaboration over the past 13 months.” 

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The White House
October 1, 2018

PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP SECURES A MODERN, REBALANCED TRADE AGREEMENT WITH CANADA AND MEXICO

“[USMCA] is a great deal for all three countries, solves the many deficiencies and mistakes in NAFTA, greatly opens markets to our farmers and manufacturers, reduces trade barriers to the U.S. and will bring all three Great Nations together in competition with the rest of the world.” – President Donald J. Trump
 
DELIVERING AS PROMISED: President Donald J. Trump is keeping his promise to deliver a modern and rebalanced trade deal with Mexico and Canada.  
·         President Trump has negotiated a new United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA), which will benefit American workers and businesses where North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has failed.  
·         For years, politicians have called for the renegotiation of NAFTA, but President Trump is following through where others have failed. 
·         This new agreement will update and rebalance the 24-year-old NAFTA with modern provisions to serve the interests of American workers and businesses.

BENEFITTING BUSINESSES, FARMERS, AND WORKERS: President Trump has secured a number of wins for American businesses and workers in USMCA.  
·         The Administration worked closely with partners to create a better deal that advances the interests of American workers, farmers, ranchers, and businesses.  
·         American auto manufacturers and workers will benefit from new rules of origin requiring 75 percent of auto content to be produced in North America.
o   The new agreement will incentivize billions of dollars in additional United States vehicle and auto parts production.
o   Workers will also benefit from rules that will incentivize the use of high-wage manufacturing labor in the auto sector, supporting better jobs for American workers. 
·         USMCA’s labor chapter represents the strongest labor provisions of any trade agreement. 
o   USMCA’s labor chapter is a core part of the agreement and will make the labor provisions fully enforceable.
·         USMCA is a win for American farmers, ranchers, and agribusiness as it includes important improvements that will enable food and agriculture to trade more fairly.
o   Canada will eliminate its “Class 7” program that allows low-priced dairy ingredients to undersell American dairy products.
o   Canada will provide new access for American dairy products, eggs, and poultry.

MODERNIZING OUR TRADE RELATIONSHIP: USMCA will bring our trade relationship with Canada and Mexico into the 21st century.
·         NAFTA failed to keep up with the United States’ changing economy. 
o   For years, NAFTA rules have helped incentivize offshoring, leading many manufacturing jobs to leave the United States.
·         The new agreement includes a modernized, high-standard chapter that provides strong protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights.
o   This includes 10 years of data protection for biologic drugs and a large scope of products eligible for protection.
·         USMCA contains the strongest measures on digital trade of any agreement.
o   This includes rules to ensure data can be transferred cross-border and to minimize limits on where data can be stored.  

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Ottawa, Ontario - October 1, 2018

Prime Minister of Canada welcomes new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement


The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today welcomed an agreement-in-principle between Canada, the United States, and Mexico on a modernized trade agreement – the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) – that will create good, well‑paying, middle class jobs, strengthen economic ties, and expand Canada’s trade in North America.

Following more than a year of negotiations, the three countries have reached understandings in key areas, including rules of origin for automotive manufacturing, agriculture, labour, intellectual property rights, culture, and dispute settlement. Further, Canada has ensured that any US Section 232 tariffs will not impact Canadian auto and auto parts exports. Canada has successfully preserved key elements of the original NAFTA, while building on the agreement to expand opportunity and improve protections for workers across North America. The resulting agreement offers crucial predictability and stability for Canadian businesses, investors, traders, workers, and innovators.

Throughout the negotiations, Canada’s approach has been constructive. Negotiating objectives remained clear: defend Canadians’ interests, uphold Canadian values, and fight for Canadian jobs and living standards within an agreement that is mutually beneficial for all three countries.

When implemented, the USMCA will help Canadians compete globally and prosper in a healthy, integrated North American economy. The Government of Canada will continue to engage with North American partners to finalize the details of an agreement that benefits all Canadians.

Quote
“The agreement-in-principle we reached today is good for Canada, good for Canadian businesses, and most importantly, good for Canadian workers and their families. When this improved agreement is implemented, North American trade will be preserved and modernized for the 21st century – just as we set out to do.”
—The Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada
Quick Facts
  • North America is home to more than 486 million people.
  • When the North American Free Trade Agreement came into effect on January 1, 1994, it created the largest free trade region in the world at that time, generating economic growth and helping to raise the standard of living for the people of all three member countries.
  • The United States and Mexico are, respectively, Canada’s first- and third-largest merchandise trading partners in the world. Canada is respectively the second- and fifth-largest merchandise trading partner of the United States and Mexico, and the largest export market for the United States.
  • In 2017, trilateral trade reached nearly USD $1.1 trillion – more than a three-fold increase since 1993.
  • To reach this renewed trilateral trade understanding, the Prime Minister, Ministers, Parliamentarians, federal officials, Premiers, and industry representatives directly engaged political and business leaders in the United States to advocate on behalf of Canadians.
  • Since January 2016, “Team Canada” visited the United States more than 300 times, and made more than 500 individual contacts with American officials, including the President, the Vice-President, 16 United States Cabinet members, more than 310 members of Congress, and 60 governors and lieutenant governors.
  • To help guide negotiations, the Government of Canada consulted with Canadians from across the country and from all sectors and backgrounds about trade. Consultations included meetings with the provinces and territories, industry, unions, civil society, think tanks, academics, Indigenous peoples, women, youth, and the general public.
MORE REACTIONS
U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Monday, October 1, 2018 - 7:30am

U.S. Chamber Statement on the Agreement between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Chamber President and CEO Thomas J. Donohue issued the following statement regarding the trilateral deal reached between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada to modernize the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA):

“We welcome the announcement that negotiators have reached a deal to modernize NAFTA. We look forward to reviewing the details with our members to determine next steps, and we commend the negotiators for their commitment to finding a path forward that includes the U.S., Mexico, and Canada.”

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world’s largest business federation representing the interests of more than 3 million businesses of all sizes, sectors, and regions, as well as state and local chambers and industry associations.

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AFL-CIO

More Work Needed to Determine if ‘New NAFTA’ Works for Working People

Statement from AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka on the latest developments surrounding the “new” North American Free Trade Agreement:

The text we have reviewed, even before the confirmation that Canada will remain part of NAFTA, affirms that too many details still need to be worked out before working people make a final judgment on a deal. Our history of witnessing unfair trade deals destroy the lives of working families demands the highest level of scrutiny before receiving our endorsement. 

Added protections for working people and some reductions in special privileges for global companies is a good start, but we still don’t know whether this new deal will reverse the outsourcing incentives present in the original NAFTA. It also is critical that we see what final labor enforcement, auto rules of origin and government purchasing provisions will look like. We recognize U.S. Trade Representative Robert E. Lighthizer’s work to address these concerns, and we look forward to continue collaborating with him and his team to ensure that working people in the United States, Canada and Mexico get the renegotiated trade agreement we all deserve.  

America’s working families want the three countries to go back to the table and finish the work, and we will be right there with them, fighting for rules that will create good, high-wage jobs, protect our environment and safeguard our democracy.

Contact: Gonzalo Salvador (202) 637-5018
NMPF, USDEC, IDFA
Release date: October 01,2018

OCT. 1 - U.S. Dairy Organizations Thank Trump Administration for Concluding New Trade Agreement with Canada, Mexico

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The trade agreement reached last night between the United States and Canada includes the elimination of Canada’s Class 7 pricing system and creation of some additional market access, two important objectives of the U.S. dairy sector.

The National Milk Producers Federation, (NMPF), the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) and the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) thanked Trump Administration negotiators for fighting hard against Canada’s trade-distorting practices. The groups look forward to reviewing the text of the U.S. -Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), in particular the dairy provisions, to better understand the benefits to U.S. agriculture and dairy.

Canada has strictly controlled imports for decades to limit the supply of milk in the country. Recently, as milk production in Canada has grown, it created the Class 7 pricing system to dump surplus milk proteins onto global markets, in direct competition with exports from the United States and other nations.

From a strategic standpoint, the agreement announced Sunday night will benefit America’s dairy sector because it preserves the overall structure of the 24-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

“The outlines of the NAFTA pact remain intact, which will allow the U.S. agricultural sector to continue developing new international markets for our farmers,” said Tom Vilsack, president and CEO of USDEC. “We also need to pursue new free trade agreements with other nations and resolve our trade conflicts with China. It is imperative that the United States remains an integral player in driving the global trade agenda.” 

While Canada will remain a largely self-contained, protected milk market, “this agreement, when implemented, should give us additional marketing opportunities that will allow us to provide high-quality American dairy products to Canada, which means we’ve made incremental progress,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF. “We appreciate that the Trump Administration continually raised the profile of our issues at the negotiating table.”

“Maintaining dairy market access in Mexico and improving market access into Canada were IDFA’s top priorities during the talks to modernize NAFTA,” said Michael Dykes, D.V.M., president and CEO of IDFA. “We’re also pleased that the Administration was successful in getting Canada to eliminate Class 7 pricing. This new agreement will preserve our vital partnership with both countries and allow the U.S. dairy industry to seek more export opportunities.”

The dairy groups said that the ultimate benefit of the new USMCA will depend on how it is implemented. Now that a tentative trilateral agreement has been reached, the dairy organizations urged the governments of the three nations to remove their tariffs on agricultural exports – as well as steel and aluminum – that have been sticking points in relations between the United States, Mexico and Canada.

The three organizations also thanked the many members of Congress who insisted than an increase in dairy market access be an essential outcome to the negotiations.

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The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF), based in Arlington, VA, develops and carries out policies that advance the well-being of dairy producers and the cooperatives they own. The members of NMPF’s cooperatives produce the majority of the U.S. milk supply, making NMPF the voice of dairy producers on Capitol Hill and with government agencies. For more on NMPF’s activities, visit our website at www.nmpf.org.

The U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) is a non-profit, independent membership organization that represents the global trade interests of U.S. dairy producers, proprietary processors and cooperatives, ingredient suppliers and export traders. Its mission is to enhance U.S. global competitiveness and assist the U.S. industry to increase its global dairy ingredient sales and exports of U.S. dairy products. USDEC accomplishes this through programs in market development that build global demand for U.S. dairy products, resolve market access barriers and advance industry trade policy goals. USDEC is supported by staff across the United States and overseas in Mexico, South America, Asia, Middle East and Europe.

The International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA), Washington, D.C., represents the nation’s dairy manufacturing and marketing industry, which supports nearly 3 million jobs that generate more than $161 billion in wages and has an overall economic impact of more than $628 billion. IDFA is the umbrella organization for the Milk Industry Foundation (MIF), the National Cheese Institute (NCI) and the International Ice Cream Association (IICA). Our members range from large multinational organizations to single-plant companies. Together they represent approximately 90 percent of the milk, cultured products, cheese, ice cream and frozen desserts produced and marketed in the United States and sold throughout the world. Our diverse membership includes numerous food retailers, suppliers and companies that offer infant formula and a wide variety of milk-derived ingredients. Visit IDFA at www.idfa.org.

Dairy Farmers of Canada
October 01, 2018 - Ottawa, ON

Dairy Farmers’ livelihood sacrificed again

Dairy farmers across Canada are deeply disappointed over the news of the concessions made on the dairy sector to conclude a new USMCA agreement.

Once again, dairy farmers again paid the price to conclude an international trade agreement.

“The announced concessions on dairy in the new USMCA deal demonstrates once again that the Canadian government is willing to sacrifice our domestic dairy production when it comes time to make a deal," said Pierre Lampron, President of Dairy Farmers of Canada (DFC). “The government has said repeatedly that it values a strong and vibrant dairy sector – they have once again put that in jeopardy by giving away more concessions,” he added.

USMCA follows two previous trade agreements in which access to the Canadian dairy market was granted, CETA and the CPTPP, which sacrificed the equivalent of a quarter of a billion dollars annually in dairy production to industries in other countries. This new agreement once again weakens the dairy sector which, among other things, employs more than 220,000 Canadians and contributes some 20 billion dollars a year to Canada’s gross domestic product. The livelihood of these thousands of Canadians and the future generations of dairy producers is seriously at risk.

“Today, the message sent to our passionate, proud and quality-conscious farmers and all the people who work in the dairy sector is clear: they are nothing more than a bargaining chip to satisfy President Trump,” added Mr. Lampron.

For consumers, each concession replaces Canadian dairy products, products made with great care by Canadians, using extremely high-quality Canadian milk with no artificial growth hormones. The USMCA agreement is opening the gate even further by letting foreign products, made according to standards inferior to our own, onto the shelves of our grocery stores.

The Canadian government has said loud and clear that it wants a prosperous dairy sector. It will be interesting to see how it can reconcile the concessions made in the negotiation of this agreement with its goal of prosperity.

Video (high-resolution) reactions of Pierre Lampron, President of DFC and David Wiens, Vice-president can be downloaded from this link: www.skyflyproductions.com/DFC

Dairy Farmers of Canada (DFC) is the national policy, lobbying and promotional organization representing Canada’s farmers. DFC strives to create stable conditions for the Canadian dairy sector, today and in the future. It works to maintain policies that foster the viability of Canadian dairy farming and promote dairy products and their health benefits.

Media contact:
Lucie Boileau 
Director of Communications
American Petroleum Institute

API APPLAUDS TRILATERAL TRADE AGREEMENT BETWEEN CANADA, MEXICO, AND THE UNITED STATES

WASHINGTON, October 1, 2018 – The American Petroleum Institute released the following statement after the Trump Administration announced that Canada has joined an agreement with the United States and Mexico to form the United States, Mexico, and Canada Agreement (USMCA):

We urge Congress to approve the USMCA,” said API President and CEO Mike Sommers. “Having Canada as a trading partner and a party to this agreement is critical for North American energy security and U.S. consumers. Retaining a trade agreement for North America will help ensure the U.S. energy revolution continues into the future.”

Key provisions of the agreement related to the U.S. natural gas and oil industry include: continued market access for U.S. natural gas and oil products, and investments in Canada and Mexico; continued zero tariffs on natural gas and oil products; investment protections to which all countries commit and the eligibility for Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) for U.S. natural gas and oil companies investing in Mexico; requirement that Mexico retain at least current level of openness to U.S. energy investment; additional flexibility allowing U.S. customs authorities to accept alternative documentation to certify that natural gas and oil have originated in Canada or Mexico upon entering the U.S.

API is the only national trade association representing all facets of the natural gas and oil industry, which supports 10.3 million U.S. jobs and nearly 8 percent of the U.S. economy. API’s more than 600 members include large integrated companies, as well as exploration and production, refining, marketing, pipeline, and marine businesses, and service and supply firms. They provide most of the nation’s energy and are backed by a growing grassroots movement of more than 47 million Americans.