Trudeau tells U.S. lawmakers that USMCA bill will pass Commons

The new North American trade deal will be ratified in Canada in the coming weeks, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has told U.S. lawmakers.

According to new reports from the Associated Press and others, Trudeau made the comments during a meeting Feb. 14 with a congressional U.S. delegation during a global security conference in Munich, Germany.

The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, has already been ratified by both the U.S. and Mexico.

The USMCA is meant to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement, negotiated in the 1990s. USMCA makes several tweaks to the North American Free Trade Agreement, which took effect in 1994. USMCA creates stricter rules for auto part rules of origin, and requires at least 40 per cent of the parts for a car to be produced in plants where workers make at least US$16 an hour. It also gives American producers better access to Canadian dairy markets; updates digital trade and copyright rules; and includes provisions to protect the ozone layer, marine environment and air quality and establishes a fisheries management system to prevent overfishing in North American waters.

Once Canada passes its implementation bill, USMCA is expected to become the law of the land about three months later.

Since the Liberals were reduced to a minority government in the October 2019 federal election, they don’t have the votes to pass USMCA on their own. The Bloc Quebecois is expected to oppose the deal and the NDP has called for a thorough review, but Conservative MPs are expected to support it.