US, Canada, Mexico sign trade deal

Countries’ legislatures still must ratify pact

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – President Donald Trump and the leaders of Mexico and Canada signed a revised trade pact Friday that changes many rules governing the free flow of commercial goods across North America.

The ceremony, held on the first day of the G-20 summit here, brought the three countries a step closer to their goal of improving continental commerce and making it easier for companies to move goods and supplies across their borders.

“This has been a battle, and battles sometimes make great friendships,” Trump said. “This is a model agreement that changes the trade landscape forever.”

But many other steps will be needed before the new agreement takes effect.

The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, announced with fanfare by the leaders of all three countries in late September after months of on-again, off-again negotiations, will replace the 24-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement. That agreement, known as NAFTA, essentially eliminated tariffs on most goods traded among the three countries.

Trump, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have all lauded the new pact as good for their countries’ economy and for workers. All three took part in Friday’s signing ceremony.

But the agreement still must be ratified by the legislative bodies of all three countries – a process that could take months and could be complicated by the Trump administration’s tariffs on aluminum and steel and by the House Democrats’ return to power in January.

“We need to remove the tariffs on steel and aluminum between our two countries,” Trudeau said.

Trudeau, who has had a rocky relationship with Trump, described the agreement as the “new NAFTA.” Trump, who ran for president on a promise to end that controversial 1994 deal, has instead embraced the acronym “USMCA.”

A vote in Congress probably won’t happen before next March or April and could possibly be delayed as late as next fall.