The Future of North America’s Economic Relationship: From NAFTA to the New Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement and Beyond

CIGI Special Report

February 11, 2019

The Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) — known in the United States as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) — was reached on September 30, 2018, and will replace its predecessor if successfully ratified by legislatures in all three countries. Several weeks later, on October 14–16, 2018, thought leaders from Mexico, the United States and Canada gathered for the fourteenth annual North American Forum in Ottawa, Ontario.

In light of these events, CIGI initiated a trilateral project to anticipate and predict how North American trade and economic relations would unfold in the near term and further into the future. Three authors, Christine McDaniel, Hugo Perezcano Díaz and Meredith Lilly, each from one of the North American countries, explain the importance of the new CUSMA to their respective countries and how economic relations could be reshaped in the coming months and years.

Earlier versions of these papers were presented in a panel discussion at the North American Forum.

About the Authors

Meredith Lilly is associate professor and Simon Reisman Chair in International Economic Policy at Carleton University, and associate director of the M.A. program at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs.

Hugo Perezcano Díaz was the deputy director of International Economic Law at CIGI.

Christine McDaniel is a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University in Arlington, Virginia. Her research focuses on international trade, globalization and intellectual property rights.