It’s usually a very good thing to get along well with your neighbors. This applies to both your own house, and to our nation. So how about America’s relationship with our neighbors, Mexico and Canada? Well, as it happens, a new trade deal was signed into law recently, so let’s take a look at it.
Here are Five Fast Facts on the USMCA:
- 🤝 What Is It - The USMCA stands for United States Mexico Canada agreement. It’s a trade deal that replaced NAFTA, and kicks in this year. It preserves much of the previous deal, keeping tariffs on most goods at or close to zero between the three nations. It ends in 16 years (unless it gets extended), and will be reviewed for possible changes every six years.
- 🥛🥕 Milk And…Veggies? - The first major provision the USMCA addresses is dairy and agriculture. Mexico and Canada are two of the top three export markets for US farmers, so expanding access and keeping low/zero tariffs is great for farmers. There will be new cooperation on biotechnology, too. They should have added cookies in there, too.
- 🚙 Baby, You Can Drive My… - The new deal helps keep auto parts manufacturing at home in North America, and it also requires certain levels of wages for auto workers making those parts. #madeinnorthamerica
- 🎮📀 Can’t Touch This - Another thing the USMCA helps is protections for copyrights and intellectual property. Written works are protected for an additional 20 years, and there are new protections for things like software and video games. If Napster was still a thing, they wouldn’t like this.
- 📦 Freer Duty Free - Small businesses often have trouble paying customs and taxes due to shipping smaller volumes of goods. Duty-free levels have been increased to allow small businesses to ship things cheaper. No word on whether you can personally bring an extra bottle or two of booze over with you (but here’s hoping!).
🔥Bottom line: While it’s too early to tell how this will all go, it seems likely to be a win for everyone involved. Hopefully it means lower prices on lots of stuff, and easier commerce for lots of businesses. All in all, it should make our Paychecks go further, and that’s something we can all support!
What do you think about the USMCA?
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