Germany welcomes U.S., Canada and Mexico trade pact

Berlin, October 2: Germany welcomes a trade agreement between the United States, Canada and Mexico, a spokeswoman for the German foreign ministry said today.

 

The spokeswoman added that the conclusion of a rules-based trade agreement that conforms to the World Trade Organisation’s framework was in the interests of Germany and its economy.

Washington and Ottawa reached an agreement on Sunday after weeks of tense bilateral talks to update the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement. The United States had forged a separate trade deal with Mexico, the third member of NAFTA, in August.

The United States and Canada reached an eleventh-hour deal on Sunday to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and maintain a trilateral trade bloc with Mexico.

The agreement was announced just before a Sunday midnight deadline imposed by Washington and a rare, late-night emergency cabinet meeting in Ottawa convened by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to discuss the deal.

The "new, modernized trade agreement" will replace the 1994 NAFTA trade bloc and will be known as the US-Mexico-Canada agreement (USMCA), according to a joint statement issued by US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland.

“USMCA will give our workers, farmers, ranchers and businesses a high-standard trade agreement that will result in freer markets, fairer trade and robust economic growth in our region," the joint statement said. "It will strengthen the middle class, and create good, well-paying jobs and new opportunities for the nearly half billion people who call North America home."

The new deal preserves a three-way trade zone valued at $1.2 trillion (€1.03 trillion) and leaves much of the original NAFTA framework intact.