, Columnist
A Bad USMCA Rewrite Will Cost Mexico More Than No Deal
Better an annual review than a bad rewrite.
Photographer: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images
The World Cup kicks off in five weeks, but North American business leaders are bracing for a far more consequential date: the review of the USMCA free-trade pact, due July 1.
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer has already warned that negotiations are likely to run past the July deadline, with formal talks yet to begin. That raises the prospect of annual reviews rather than the clean 16-year extension Mexico and Canada would have wanted, until the three governments agree on a renewal, or the pact lapses in 2036 under its so-called sunset clause.