NAM Regulatory Update: Trump Seeks Early USMCA Talks

As part of an effort to bring more information about the regulatory and legal environment facing American manufacturers, NFPA is monitoring the newsfeed of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) and will be bringing important updates like this to the attention of NFPA members.

(January 23, 2025) President Trump is aiming to have the U.S.–Mexico–Canada Agreement renegotiated early.

What’s going on: The USMCA, created during President Trump’s first term as a replacement for the North American Free Trade Agreement, is due for statutory review in July 2026—but to get Canada and Mexico to the negotiating table as soon as next week, the president will put forth the idea of “stiff tariffs” on goods from those countries, according to people close to the matter.

President Trump is “particularly focused on using the threat of tariffs to change automotive rules under the continental trade pact, forcing car plants to move from Canada and Mexico back to the U.S.”

He reportedly plans to task Commerce Secretary nominee Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative nominee Jamieson Greer with leading the renegotiation.

Other priorities: Among President Trump’s other objectives regarding Canada and Mexico: stopping “the flow of fentanyl and migrants into the U.S.”

Why it’s important: The USMCA governs approximately $2 trillion in trade between the three countries and “was approved by Congress with the broadest support of any trade deal in U.S. history.”  

Since it was signed, Mexico and Canada have replaced China as the largest trading partners of the U.S.

In his Monday executive order on trade, President Trump ordered the Commerce Department to review unlawful migration and fentanyl flows from Canada, Mexico and China. Its findings are due April 1. 

Possible responses: “Canadian officials are weighing retaliatory tariffs on up to $150 billion of U.S. products, such as Kentucky bourbon and Florida orange juice,” while Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has said “U.S. tariffs could bring retaliation from Mexico.”

However … The president “wants to wait until he has his full trade team in place before potentially moving forward with tariffs, some of the people familiar with the matter said.”