Trump signs USMCA, disappoints U.S. beef producers
President Trump has signed the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which replaces the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Although the president had called NAFTA the worst trade deal ever for the United States while promoting a complete overhaul of the 1994 treaty, the USMCA is not very different from it. In fact, analysts say that at least 90% of the USMCA is the same as NAFTA. The parts that are different are new laws on intellectual property protection, e-commerce, and currency issues. This is far from what the White House had originally touted the USMCA would be.
U.S. cattle producers are particularly miffed that the USMCA does nothing to address cattle and beef trade between the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The existing provisions, which remain unchanged, do not require country-of-origin labeling, which places U.S. beef and beef products at a disadvantage at retail because imported beef and beef products are cheaper. In addition, the imports of beef and beef products from Canada and Mexico total $4 billion, which is $2 billion more than the amount of U.S. beef exports.
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