In a stunning twist that’s rattling markets and rewriting North American trade history, U.S. President Donald Trump is reportedly considering withdrawing from the very trade pact he championed and signed during his first term — the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). The move could upend one of the world’s largest economic partnerships and inject fresh instability into global supply chains.
The USMCA — which succeeded the North American Free Trade Agreement and governs roughly $2 trillion in cross-border trade — is slated for mandatory review ahead of a July 1 deadline this year. What was expected to be a routine update has devolved into a high-stakes showdown that could see the U.S. pull out entirely or restructure trade ties into separate deals with Mexico and Canada.
Sources familiar with internal deliberations told Bloomberg that Trump has asked aides why he shouldn’t withdraw from the USMCA, even though he hasn’t publicly committed to abandoning the pact yet. A White House official insisted that any formal action would only be announced by the president himself, dismissing current reports as speculation.
Meanwhile, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer hinted that Washington is keeping all options on the table, saying that simply rubber-stamping the 2019 deal is “not in the national interest” and that separate negotiations with Mexico and Canada will proceed — noting Mexico as “pragmatic” and Canada as “more challenging.”
Even the threat of a U.S. exit has already sent ripples through financial markets and business circles. A softening in the Mexican peso and Canadian dollar followed the headlines, reflecting anxiety among traders over potential disruption to deeply integrated supply chains spanning automobiles, agriculture, and technology sectors.
Industry groups and lawmakers fear that repealing or unraveling the USMCA could trigger higher tariffs, disjointed supply networks, and retaliation from Canada and Mexico — outcomes that would reverberate across jobs, prices, and competitiveness.
The irony isn’t lost on observers: Trump, who nearly torpedoed NAFTA only to negotiate the USMCA as a replacement, now appears poised to undo that bargain in pursuit of better terms or bilateral leverage. Globe and Mail columnists and other commentators have likened this to Trump’s first-term threats to cut Canada out of a trade deal entirely — a reminder that his trade strategy often favors bold gambits over incremental diplomacy.
With midterm elections and global economic uncertainties looming, the USMCA review could become one of the most consequential trade flashpoints in decades. Congress is watching closely, and businesses are bracing for a marathon of negotiations — or potentially the unraveling of a pact that has underpinned North American commerce for years.
Stay tuned — what comes next may reshape trade from Detroit to Mexico City and Ottawa alike.
