Leaders from the United States, Canada, and Mexico signed a new trilateral trade agreement on Friday, 30 November, during the G20 Summit in Buenos Aires.
The deal, called the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, replaces NAFTA, the nations’ previous deal. It still must be approved by the countries’ legislative bodies, including Congress in the United States. It’s expected the newly elected Congress, which will include a Democratic Party controlled House of Representatives, will begin discussing the agreement once it convenes next month.
The new agreement includes language related to fisheries in all three countries, especially in the section regarding environmental issues. The USMCA states the members must work together on reducing marine pollution, including discarded or abandoned fishing gear, and illegal fishing.
The countries also agreed to conduct fisheries management practices that prevent overfishing and reduce bycatch. The agreement also states no member shall subsidize practices that lead to overfishing.
One Canadian official said last month the new agreement would not affect his nation’s abilities to make bilateral deals with other countries, even though the new deal includes language allowing members to veto another member’s free trade agreement with a non-market economy nation.
“It’s important to note that in the former NAFTA deal, if one country did not like what the other country did, (it) had the opportunity to give the six-month notice and remove itself from NAFTA,” Canadian Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay said, according to ipolitics.ca. “That still exists here.”
MacAulay specifically noted his country referred to their interests in China, where the minister visited last month. He attended the China Fisheries and Seafood Expo and the Food and Hotel China tradeshow. Canadian agriculture officials expect the shows to generate more than CAD 285 million (EUR 189.7 million) in new sales.
“As the world’s second largest economy, China is a market with significant opportunities for growth,” he said. “Along with Canadian industry, I will continue to meet with my counterparts and business partners in China to explore ways to make our partnerships even stronger. The economic benefits of an even stronger relationship between our two countries will help all Canadians, including our farmers, processors, fishermen and exporters.”
Photo courtesy of U.S. Department of State
