Canada’s Senate ratifies USMCA
Canada’s Senate has signed off on the bill to ratify the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), the trilateral free trade agreement that replaces NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, which had been in force since 1994.
“Getting NAFTA done was something that was entirely within the power of Canadian legislators to do, and something we were able to do to help the Canadian economy at this challenging time,” Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland (pictured) told a news conference in Ottawa on March 13, referring to the COVID-19 pandemic and amid calls from some legislators to close the country’s borders to reduce the risk of the pandemic entering from the US.
Once the USMCA legislation receives royal assent from Governor General Julie Payette, a three-month period will begin to give the three countries time to hammer out the regulations that will govern the mechanics of the agreement.
