Making Changes To USMCA Could Be Difficult

Some lawmakers, specifically in the House of Representatives are asking for significant changes to USMCA.  USDA's Undersecretary for Trade, Ted McKinney, was in Canada last week when he addressed the issue of American lawmakers who are calling for changes to the updated NAFTA.

“It's very, very difficult to re-open an agreement. I'm not intimately familiar with it, but sometimes there are things I think they're called 'side letters' or other ways to address unanticipated questions or demands. But it would be very, very difficult to re-open the entire negotiation; the hope is that if there are needs clearly Ambassador [Robert] Lighthizer and his team are attempting to address those.”

McKinney said, Canadian officials and business people with whom he's been talking to on this trade mission are very curious about how the ratification process is going in the U.S.

“They a have shared their keen hope that we get it passed.”

Because Canadian lawmakers will not be taking up the agreement until the U.S. congress approves it.

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