USMCA - The new NAFTA

[RiverRat1]

USMCA

Good, bad, or the same as NAFTA?

I'll walk out on a limb and say pretty good since I didn't see the media screaming how terrible it was...or any cartoons with Trump catching babies on fire or the likes.


If good, how good and why?

If bad, how bad and why?

[sir shovelhands]

Well, it's basically NAFTA+.

The big additions were: requiring higher pay for autoworkers (since Mexico's low wages incentivized a lot of plants moving there), requiring vehicles to have at least 75% of parts made in the country to avoid tarrifs, and opening up some of the dairy trade in Canada for US producers. I approve of all of these.

The one thing I don't care for on the new agreement is the IP changes. They increased the years for copyright protection after an authors death, and extendes how long pharma drugs get protection from generic competition.

None of these changes are really that major, so there won't be any Earth shattering economic changes.

Though I find it funny given how much Trump dogged NAFTA as being a horrible deal, the USMCA is nearly identical.