As New NAFTA Takes Effect, Much Remains Undone

07/01/2020

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Ana Swanson | The New York Times

The beginning of a new trade deal does not signal an end to trade disputes between United States, Canada and Mexico.

President Trump’s promised rewrite of trade terms between the United States, Canada and Mexico officially goes into effect on Wednesday. But while the president claims victory in reworking the North American Free Trade Agreement, putting its provisions into practice is far from done.

Company executives, government officials and union leaders around the continent have been scrambling to comply with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which overhauls a trade deal that has governed commerce among the three countries for more than 26 years.

The Trump administration and other supporters have welcomed the revised pact as providing much-needed changes to previous trade rules, including bigger incentives to manufacture products in North America, new guidelines for digital trade and stronger labor protections for Mexican workers. And the official start of the new agreement puts to rest much of the uncertainty Mr. Trump created for businesses by repeatedly threatening to walk away from the deal altogether.

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