NAFTA is gone!!

[Maggot]

This is great!  Canada and Mexico have both signed the agreement. The US is not the worlds piggy bank anymore.

[HairOfTheDog]

Actually, NAFTA has been revised and rebranded. One of Trump's non-negotiable terms was changing the name, though the large majority of the NAFTA deal remains unchanged.

No doubt though, this is a victory for Trump in terms of being a positive campaign point ahead of the November mid-terms and for the Republicans going into 2020 (particularly in states he flipped from blue to red in 2016, especially Pennsylvania and Wisconsin).

Anyway, I'm glad to see Canada and the U.S. were able to reach agreement and hope the revised trade deal will benefit all three countries' economies if it's passed.

[HairOfTheDog]

The proposed revised trade agreement is labeled the United States, Mexico, Canada Trade Agreement (USMCA). It won't take effect until 2020, if Congress ratifies it (which seems highly likely).

The changes focus primarily on two industries, autos and dairy.

As I understand it..............by essentially raising the minimum wage for auto workers across the three countries and reducing protectionist tariffs for Canadian farmers, the goal is to increase free trade between the North American countries with more autos manufactured in the U.S. and more U.S. dairy products exported from the U.S. to Canada.

[BigMark]

Winning!

[Duchess]

*snort* you sure are given he fooled you with some simple wording.

[Maggot]

I see El Paso is building a better wall one section at a time. Maybe trump will get Mexico to pay for the wall one step at a time. They will certainly have to step up their game in trade.

[Rootilda]

I was hoping they'd go for USCAM, it seems fitting.

[Duchess]

I was hoping they'd go for USCAM, it seems fitting.

One of the things that trump insisted on was that the name be changed but other than that, not much has changed. He's such a fuckin' dufus.

[HairOfTheDog]

I was hoping they'd go for USCAM, it seems fitting.

One of the things that trump insisted on was that the name be changed but other than that, not much has changed. He's such a fuckin' dufus.

He did get some much needed intellectual property protections/provisions added to the deal.

Those important provisions were lifted from the TPP trade deal negotiated/proposed under Obama's administration, the deal that President Trump quashed when he took office.

[Rootilda]

I'm sure it's just my cynicism showing but I wonder what admin member that benefits.

[HairOfTheDog]

I'm sure it's just my cynicism showing but I wonder what admin member that benefits.

If I understand correctly, anyone who is invested in American pharmaceutical companies or receives political donations from American pharmaceutical companies will be the biggest benefactors.

From Canadian economists' perspective (at least the ones I've read), Canadians will pay higher prescription drug prices when USMCA kicks in because they don't have a big R&D industry there and they will have to wait longer for generic versions of the drugs to become available.

"Innovation" in general will be stifled in Canada under USMCA  in exchange for protecting its traditional agricultural industries and avoiding Trumps threats to tariff the shit out of automobiles.

In my opinion, Intellectual Property protections are more important in regards to China than Canada.  But, Trump hasn't gotten anywhere with that since he quashed TPP and took up unilateral negotiations............ the tit-for-tat tariff trade war between Trump and Xi is still underway.

[Rootilda]

You are a font of knowledge and I appreciate you.

USMCA is awkward as hell, I keep thinking it has to do with our Marine Corp.

[HairOfTheDog]

Thank you Rootilda. Here's a very good (and not terribly long) summary of how the revised trade deal impacts each country.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45674261

[Duchess]

You are a font of knowledge and I appreciate you.

I do too, everyday. I don't want to do this without her by my side.