Donald Trump signs Nafta replacement, but hurdles remain in Congress

The signing, which took place on the sidelines of the G20 summit, shifts the onus onto each country’s legislatures

The new deal is known as the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement, though the Canadians have avoided calling it that

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From left, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, US President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as they prepare to sign a new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement to replace the Nafta trade pact, during a ceremony before the start of the G20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Friday. The pact must still be approved by lawmakers in all three countries. Photo: AP

Published: 12:49am, 1 Dec 2018Updated: 1:57am, 1 Dec 2018

The US, Canada and Mexico signed a new trade deal championed by US President Donald Trump to replace the quarter-century-old Nafta pact, capping a year of intense negotiations and offering a glimmer of certainty amid rising global tensions over trade.

Trump, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and outgoing Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto signed an authorisation for the deal on Friday morning in Buenos Aires on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit, with their ministers signing it shortly after.

The vast majority of the pact still must be ratified by lawmakers in the three countries, but the signing enacts a handful of immediate protections, such as from auto tariffs.

Nieto, Trump and Trudeau at the signing ceremony on Friday. The revamped accord, called the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), looks a lot like the one it replaces. But enough has been tweaked for Trump to declare victory on behalf of the US workers he claims were cheated by Nafta. Photo: Reuters

The deal now heads to ratification, almost certainly by the next US Congress, where Democrats will have a majority in the House starting in January. Uncertainties remain, as the original 1994 pact remains in effect, and tariffs on steel and aluminium continue to be a major irritant.

Still, the signing concluded an arduous process that was marked by repeated threats from Trump to exit the continent’s free-trade zone.