Chapter 9 “Health and Plant Health Measures” (SPS) creates rights and obligations in relation to measures applied by WTO members to ensure the safety of imported food, feed and phytopharmaceuticals. On December 19, 2019, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the USMCA by 385 votes (Democracy 193, Republican 192) to 41 (Democrats 38, Republicans 2, 1). [79] On January 16, 2020, the U.S. Senate passed the trade agreement by 89 votes (Democrats 38, Republicans 51) to 10 (Democracy 8, Republican 1, Independent 1)[80] and the bill was forwarded to the White House for the signature of Donald Trump. [81] On January 29, 2020, Trump signed the agreement (Public Law No: 116-113). [82] NAFTA has been formally amended,[83] but not the 1989 Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, which is only “suspended.” [84] [85] A trade agreement with Mexico and Canada revises Mexico`s labour laws and further encourages auto production in North America. On November 30, 2018, the USMCA was signed as planned by the three parties at the G20 summit in Buenos Aires. [58] [59] Disputes over labour rights, steel and aluminum prevented ratification of this version of the agreement. [60] [61] Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lightizer, and Mexican Under-Secretary of State for North America Jesus Seade officially signed a revised agreement on December 10, 2019, ratified by the three countries on March 13, 2020. The Trump administration`s office proposed the USMCA citing new measures for digital commerce, strengthening the protection of trade secrets and adapting the rules of origin of automobiles among the benefits of the trade agreement.
[112] The agreement between the United States of America, the United States of Mexico and Canada[1] is a free trade agreement between Canada, Mexico and the United States in lieu of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). [2] [3] [4] The agreement has been referred to as NAFTA 2.0[5][7][7] or “New ALEFTA[8][9],[9] since many nafta provisions have been introduced and its amendments have been found to be largely incremental. On 1 July 2020, the USMCA came into force in all Member States. Sectoral chapters, including Chapter 12, on FDA-regulated products have not been considered in most previous trade agreements, including NAFTA. Therefore, the inclusion of these annexes by the USMCA is an innovation not only in U.S. trade policy, but also for international public health. On December 10, 2019, the three countries reached a revised USMCA agreement. On January 29, 2020, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs Chrystia Freeland introduced the USMCA C-4 Transposition Act in the House of Commons[93] and passed the first reading without a registered vote. On February 6, the bill passed second reading in the House of Commons by 275 votes to 28, with the Bloc Québécois voting against and all other parties voting in its favour, and it was referred to the Standing Committee on International Trade.
[99] [100] [101] On 27 February 2020, the committee voted to send the bill to Parliament for third reading, without amendments. In the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Donald Trump`s campaign included a promise to renegotiate or eliminate NAFTA if the renegotiations fail. [21] After the election, Trump made a series of changes that influenced trade relations with other countries.