The ‘New’ Trade Deal

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Judi Bottoni, Associated Press

The U.S., Canada and Mexico have met to discuss changes from NAFTA.

Brendan Guillen, Reporter

President Trump has entered into a new trade deal with Canada and Mexico that breaks away from NAFTA called the United States-Mexico-Canada agreement (USMCA).

The new deal involves arrangements established by NAFTA including the strengthening of intellectual property rights while adding both an increased access to U.S. dairy products, new rules on digital trade and alterations to the current U.S. automobile industry. Republican Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania commented: “I am concerned about the weakening of the protections for the U.S. investors; new arbitrary wage mandates on auto imports; side deals establishing quotas on automobile and automobile parts imported from Mexico and Canada; and a failure to eliminate tariffs on steel and aluminum.”

The major issues presented between Canada and the U.S. consisted mostly of dairy market access and labor and parts rules for automakers. The specifics of the deal regarding automobile parts includes a clause that sets a proportion of the products to come from the three North American countries. This is all due to President Trump’s attempt to limit Chinese imports.

The countries will settle upon a final agreement in November.