The Replacement of NAFTA with USMCA: An Analysis, The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was the precursor of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) between Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Discuss your understanding of why USMCA replaced NAFTA, providing specific details of both agreements. In your opinion, which agreement is better, and why?

The Replacement of NAFTA with USMCA: An Analysis

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was implemented in 1994 and was the first free trade agreement between the United States, Canada and Mexico. NAFTA abolished many tariffs and established free trade between the three countries, leading to a surge in economic growth for all three countries (Kumar, 2020). However, in 2018, the United States and the other two countries signed the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) to replace NAFTA. The USMCA modernizes and strengthens trade relationships by updating the 25-year-old NAFTA agreement (U.S. Trade Representative, 2020). It improves labor standards, supports environmental protection, strengthens intellectual property rights, and opens up access to government procurement markets. It also requires a minimum wage of $16 an hour in certain Mexican auto factories and requires 40-45% of auto content to be manufactured in North America (Langley, 2020). In my opinion, the USMCA is the better agreement due to its strengthening of labor standards, environmental protection, and intellectual property rights. It also offers better access to government procurement markets and ensures a minimum wage for Mexican auto factory workers. Furthermore, the new agreement provides a… Cont…