Trump tariffs now drive North America trade: US

Washington, July 1 (IANS) President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff policies have already overtaken key parts of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), fundamentally reshaping North American trade even before negotiations to rewrite the pact are completed, a senior administration official said on Wednesday.

The remarks came after the United States declined to renew the USMCA in its current form during the agreement’s first mandatory six-year review, while keeping the trade pact in force as negotiations with Mexico and Canada continue.

According to the senior official, the administration’s trade agenda has already changed the commercial relationship among the three countries more significantly than the review process itself.

“The president has already changed the nature of the US, Canada, Mexico trading relationship,” the official said.

“Our trade deficit with Canada has decreased by about a quarter over the past year and a half. Our trade deficit of Mexico has increased largely as an effect of our tariffs on the world, and a lot of supply chains have made their way back to North America.”

The official argued that President Trump’s tariff measures have effectively become the primary driver of North American trade policy.

“We have already seen USMCA to some degree subordinated by the president’s robust trade policy,” the official said.

Later in the briefing, the official reiterated that “the president has already… subsumed U-S-M-C-A under new trade and tariff policies,” adding that many bilateral trade issues had already been addressed outside the framework of the agreement.

The administration said its broader objective remains reducing the US trade deficit while encouraging companies to manufacture more products in the United States.

According to the senior administration official, recent trade figures indicate that strategy is beginning to show results.

“The United States… has reduced… the US trade deficit in goods… by about 26%” over the past year, the official said, adding that the country had also recorded “record-breaking exports over $300 billion” each month this year.

“The president’s trade policy is working, and we wanna make sure that our trade relationship with Mexico and Canada, whether it’s U-S-M-C-A or some other formulation, contributes to the direction we’re going right now,” the official said.

The official also dismissed concerns that the review process could create prolonged uncertainty for businesses, arguing that the strength of the US economy continues to make America the world’s most attractive market for investment.

“There’s nothing more certain than the strength of the US consumer and the US economy,” the official said.

The administration nevertheless said it hopes to conclude negotiations with Mexico and Canada well before the agreement’s review period expires, rather than allowing discussions to continue for years.

The USMCA replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in July 2020. It established a six-year joint review process requiring the three member countries to decide whether to extend the agreement. Failure to reach unanimous agreement does not terminate the pact immediately but begins a review period during which negotiations continue.

–IANS

lkj/dan