USMCA

In early 2017, United States President Donald Trump set in motion the renegotiation of NAFTA. On October 1, 2018 a new trade deal – the United States Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA) was announced. The agreement was created behind closed doors. The draft text has been published on the US government website in English only.

While negotiations were underway, the NFU joined with peoples’ organizations from Canada, Mexico and the USA in tri-national meetings where the groups called for “a new model of integration, cooperation and exchange among nations that guarantees that any agreement be negotiated with the democratic participation of society, that it be transparent in all of its terms and conditions and that it promote the reconstruction of national, regional and local production chains , on the basis of international cooperation and the sovereignty of each country and with full respect for human, political, economic, social, cultural and environmental rights. In addition, it must guarantee decent work and living wages, irrespective of national origin or migratory status.”

The USMCA not only falls short of these criteria, it undermines and weakens the foundations of justice and equity in all three countries. It is particularly harmful to Canada’s supply management system for dairy, eggs and poultry and to our quality control institutions for grain.