U.S. replaces NAFTA with new trade deal

The United States and Canada reached a trade agreement on Sunday, just hours ahead of a U.S-imposed midnight deadline and after weeks of difficult negotiations. U.S. President Donald Trump at a news conference Monday called the agreement “the most modern, up-to-date, and balanced trade deal in the history of our country,” adding that he planned to sign the pact by the end of November and then submit it to Congress.

The new deal, named the United States–Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), replaces the 24-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which Trump called “perhaps the worst trade deal ever made.” The new pact would give U.S. farmers greater access to the Canadian dairy market and place new protections on intellectual property rights and drug development. It would also impose new manufacturing requirements on automobiles in an effort to keep jobs in the United States, while protecting Canada if Trump imposed tariffs on cars, trucks, and auto parts.

Trump had threatened to move forward with a new trade agreement without Canada if the countries could not reach a deal. But he changed his tune at the news conference, saying he had the “highest regard” for Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau while praising Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and President-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador for their work in the negotiations.