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News > U.S.

US Senate Approves New Trade Deal to Replace NAFTA

  • The U.S. Senate Sergeant at Arms Michael Stenger escorts the U.S. House impeachment managers, including lead manager House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA); House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY); House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) onto the floor of the Senate behind Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell as they arrive for the procedural start of the Senate impeachment trial of U.S. President Donald Trump in this frame grab from video shot at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., January 16, 2020.

    The U.S. Senate Sergeant at Arms Michael Stenger escorts the U.S. House impeachment managers, including lead manager House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA); House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY); House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) onto the floor of the Senate behind Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell as they arrive for the procedural start of the Senate impeachment trial of U.S. President Donald Trump in this frame grab from video shot at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., January 16, 2020. | Photo: Reuters

Published 16 January 2020
Opinion

Just 26 years after NAFTA was established, the U.S. and its North American neighbors have decided to establish a new trade agreement. 

The U.S. Senate voted on Thursday to approve the new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which will replaced the 26-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The agreement will now be presented to U.S. President Donald Trump for approval. 

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According to The Hill, the U.S. Senate endorsed the USMCA by a vote of 89 to 10. The vote comes about a month after the deal was approved by the House of Representatives.

Previously, the three countries negotiated to replace NAFTA for over two years and reached the new trade deal last fall.

The deal, which replaces the 26-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), was signed by the three countries on 30 November 2018. The trilateral pact updates rules for participants' access to the three countries’ domestic markets, labour legislation and intellectual property protection mechanisms.

U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized the NAFTA agreement and vowed to replace it with something, he describes, as more beneficial for North America. 

The Mexcan Senate has already ratified the protocol on changes to USMCA in December. Canada is expected to ratify these changes in the coming weeks. 

The USMCA came into being as a result of U.S. President Trump demanding to renegotiate NAFTA, a pact signed in 1993 that the president had repeatedly called a "disaster" for the United States.

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