Over the past several months, Global Affairs Canada has been in the process of consultingwith Canadians on the operation of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (“CUSMA” – also known in the US as the “USMCA”) ahead of the first joint review of the agreement set to take place in 2026.
As we have previously blogged about here, CUSMA is the current iteration in a history of “free trade” agreements between Canada, the United States and Mexico, and it includes built-in formal six-year joint reviews between its member nations to consider improvements and possible extensions.
Global Affairs Canada (“GAC”) has announced it is now accepting applications for the 2025-year tariff rate quotas (the “TRQs”) for most dairy products (including cheese and ice cream), and poultry (including eggs). Applications opened October 1, 2024, and the deadline to apply is November 15, 2024.
The United States, Mexico and Canada have enjoyed near-complete free trade since the inception of the North American Free Trade Agreement (“NAFTA”) in 1994. In fact, Canada and the US have enjoyed “free trade” even longer than that, since the inception of the first Canada-US Free Trade Agreement in 1989. Unfortunately, free trade amongst the “three amigos” is not guaranteed!
In this blog we explore the mandatory Review and Term Extension Rules in the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (“USMCA” – also known in Canada as the “CUSMA”), and what it is going to take in order to keep our vibrant North American trade relationship going!
