Washington, DC - Today marks the mandatory six-year review of the United States-Mexico-Canada trilateral trade agreement, known as the USMCA. With a long-term agreement to extend the deal highly unlikely, and no countries opting to leave the deal, USMCA will move automatically to annual reviews through 2036.
The USMCA was negotiated in Donald Trump’s first term as a revised version of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). At the time USMCA was negotiated, Trump declared it “the greatest trade deal ever,” but the U.S. trade deficit with North American neighbors has increased under the deal and domestic manufacturing jobs have declined.
Sierra Club joined other climate groups in advocating for changes to the environmental chapter of USMCA, and more broadly in the agreement, that promote sustainable and resilient North American manufacturing by protecting the environment and the health of the public and workers. In particular, trade policy experts from Sierra Club and other environmental groups, alongside thousands of our grassroots supporters, have been pushing for the creation of a new environmental enforcement tool to ensure that factories that illegally pollute don’t have an unfair advantage over those that don’t include environmental exploitation in their business models.
The current trade rules encourage corporations to shift production to places with weak environmental safeguards, which worsens local pollution and even results in illegal pollution released in one country polluting the environment of another. All the while, this trade system increases climate-warming emissions globally. Hundreds of House and Senate Democrats have demanded that U.S Trade Representative Jamieson Greer use the review period to increase U.S. competitiveness in a global marketplace increasingly focused on cleanliness by requiring strong and enforceable environmental standards and good job standards in the agreement. A new resolution, introduced in May by Rep. Rosa DeLauro, would ensure U.S. trade policy boosts domestic manufacturing, protects safe, family-supporting jobs, and reduces pollution at home and abroad. Sierra Club supports this resolution.
In response, Sierra Club Industrial Transformation Campaign Deputy Director Iliana Paul issued the following statement:
"The Trump Administration must fundamentally rework the USMCA to support a manufacturing economy that is resilient, competitive, and benefits workers, frontline communities, and the environment. Without those meaningful reforms on the table, keeping the door open to modify the agreement is the better path forward. The current version of the USMCA is unsustainable, with policies that encourage the off-shoring of pollution and jobs, rather than incentivize a better system for a vibrant manufacturing sector and resilient economy. The failure to renew the USMCA as-is gives us more time to ensure the necessary improvements are included in any long-term trade deal.”
###
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.