The U.S.-Canada free trade deal that started it all

It took until almost the last minute for Canada and the United States to agree on a new trade deal this week. U.S. negotiator Peter Murphy was keen to report an agreement had been reached. (CBC Archives/Sunday Report). The deal, now known as the USMCA (United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement), was a replacement for NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement.

The situation was eerily similar 31 years ago, when Canada and the United States finally agreed on a bilateral free trade agreement late in the evening on Oct. 3, 1987.