Pyrrhic victory: will the new Nafta agreement prove damaging for Canada?
USMCA designed to keep Canada from China's orbit
Despite the deal's benefits, the US veto raises increased uncertainties over trade and investment
The new US-Mexico-Canada agreement, or USMCA, which is expected to be signed by the end of November, offers its most northerly signatory an energy 'win' by scrapping a controversial decades-old proportionality clause. But a US say in Canada's ability to strike trade agreements raises a more concrete concern than the largely symbolic victory. The USMCA, which will replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta), eliminates a proportionality clause which required Canada to maintain a fixed proportion of oil exports to the US, even in the event of a supply disruption. It was a holdover from the original US-Canada free trade agreement, signed in the late 1980s, when long queues at Americ
Also in this section
3 April 2025
IOCs and Western lenders are reluctant to commit to new oil and gas projects in African frontier countries
2 April 2025
The often-hidden yet powerful hand maintains supply chain linkages and global flows amid disruptions
2 April 2025
At some point it is likely that $70/bl will be quietly accepted as the producer-consumer sweet spot for a US administration having to balance both sides of the ledger
1 April 2025
There is method to the US president’s apparent madness, and those seeking to understand need look no further than their local bookshop
