The leaders of the USA, Canada and Mexico signed the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) today at the G-20 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Reacting to the formal signing, Thomas J. Gibson, president and CEO of the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), commented:

“We appreciate the administration’s hard work to reach this trade agreement between the US, Canada and Mexico. The NAFTA has provided significant benefits for the American steel industry by promoting the development of manufacturing supply chains in North America, especially with key customer groups like the automotive industry. The new agreement builds on this success by establishing new rules of origin that will further incentivise the use of North American steel in the manufacturing of automobiles and other steel-intensive goods in North America. The agreement also improves on the original NAFTA by creating new rules to address currency manipulation and state-owned enterprises, and by promoting increased co-operation and information sharing between the three North American governments to address circumvention and evasion of our trade and customs laws. We believe these enhancements provide valuable improvements to the text of the original NAFTA that will help keep our manufacturing supply chains strong throughout North America.”

Kevin Dempsey, senior vice president of public policy at AISI, also recently testified before the International Trade Commission on the impacts of the USMCA.