US President Donald Trump has described the signing of a new free trade deal with Mexico and Canada as signalling “a new dawn” for Americans and the return of the country as a “manufacturing powerhouse”.
The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) updates and replaces the nearly 25-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which Trump had labelled a disaster and promised to cancel.
After more than a year of talks and six weeks of intense discussions, the Canadian and US governments were able to overcome their differences late on Sunday with both sides conceding some ground.
Presenter: Adrian Finighan
Guests:
Chris Garcia – CEO of Vicar Financial and former deputy director at the US Department of Commerce under President Trump
Colin Robertson – Former Canadian diplomat who was part of the team that negotiated the original NAFTA deal in 1994
Fernando Gonzalez-Rojas – Professor of International Trade at the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education.
Editor’s note: This episode of Inside Story originally aired on October 1.
Source: Al Jazeera News
