The United States has refused to extend its landmark North American trade agreement on existing terms, stepping back from a deal that President Donald Trump himself once called the most beneficial trade pact the country had ever signed. Wednesday marked the built-in deadline for the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) — which governs roughly $2 trillion in annual trade between the three neighbouring economies — for the three governments to jointly decide its future. After virtual talks between officials, the US trade representative's office confirmed Washington would not commit to a standard 16-year renewal, citing persistent American trade deficits with both Canada and Mexico.

The USMCA, which entered into force in 2020 as a renegotiated replacement for the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), is not immediately dead. The deal remains in effect while negotiations continue, but it will now face annual reviews rather than the six-year cycle originally designed. Critically, the failure to secure unanimous renewal triggers what officials described as a ten-year countdown: without a new agreement, the pact could expire as early as 2036. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Washington would