Trade agreement will not be renewed for another 16-year term

The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) will not be renewed for another 16-year term. The deadline to renew the trilateral trade pact passed July 1.

Instead, the agreement, negotiated during the first Trump administration, will be renewed annually. It will stay in effect for another decade if neither country decides to withdraw from it.  

“The United States did not agree to renew the USMCA in its current form,” a senior administration official said on a July call with reporters, according to reports from media outlets including CNBC and ABC.

President Trump’s “primary” concern with USMCA centers on the U.S.′ trade deficits with the two trading partners, according to the official.

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, in a statement released while the call was ongoing, said the Trump administration “will continue to engage with Mexico and Canada to address the Agreement’s shortcomings.”

The USMCA replaced the 26-year-old trade pact known as NAFTA.

Agricultural organizations, including a 40-member coalition launched in February and a produce group formed in June, had advocated for the agreement’s renewal.