USMCA Takes Effect. What Does It Mean? – Uptime Logistics
Today - July 1st, 2020 - marks the beginning of the USMCA taking effect. Sometimes referred to as NAFTA 2.0, this free trade agreement updates, modernizes, and extends trade rules between the United States, Mexico, and Canada. Many are celebrating the news – as designing and negotiating international trade agreements can be challenging, though expanding quality trade relationships can provide a lot of extra value and benefits.
To dive into this topic, Doug Draper is joined by Stéphane Lessard, Consul General of Canada in Denver. Stéphane has been in this position for the last four years helping, representing, facilitating, and developing relationships between Canada, Colorado, and other US States in the region including Montana, Utah, Kansas, and Wyoming.
Doug and Stéphane start off the USMCA discussion with adopting a longer time frame perspective – looking at the origins and benefits of NAFTA and even earlier trading. As Stéphane notes, “Our people, our countries have always traded. We’ve traded for centuries.” Then with NAFTA in particular, the three countries changed the way they trade and began actually making things together by integrating the other countries more deeply into their supply chains. In this collaborative way, North America as a whole has become more competitive with other trading regions around the world. As one example statistic of this prosperity, in 2019 US-Canada trade was roughly $2 billion each day!
Doug then asks the broader questions about what will change for businesses and citizens as the new USMCA agreement takes effect. As it is a continuation of free trade, it appears that not too much will change between NAFTA and the USMCA – or CUSMA as it’s known in Canada. In the early process of negotiating and renegotiating, there was a lot of uncertainty which introduced risk and costs for everyone involved. So broadly speaking, the main benefit of this new agreement resides in reintroducing certainty, predictability, and stability – allowing businesses and investors to do what they do best, while more fully connecting the the countries citizens and companies.
Watch or listen to the full show to learn more about the big picture of the USMCA, as well as some of the specific new changes impacting labeling requirements for auto manufacturing, increased market access for grain & dairy producers, and new rules encompassing digital trade. Additionally, there are some new features on dispute settlements as well as higher labor & environmental standards
More information about the Consulate General of Canada in Denver, United States can be found at their website here:
https://www.international.gc.ca/country-pays/us-eu/denver.aspx?lang=eng