Preview

MGIMO Review of International Relations

Advanced search

New in US-Canadian Relations and Ratification of the USMCA Agreement

https://doi.org/10.24833/2071-8160-2020-5-74-78-96

Abstract

Abstract: The article reviews through chronological analysis key issues in US-Canadian relations in the context of new trade agreement USMCA replacing NAFTA during Trump's presidency. It identifies a new model of relations between the closest North American partners in the context of a new paradigm which is called “America First”. This model leads to a crisis the US-Canadian relations, which is aggravated by the increased partisan rivalry in light of the upcoming US presidential elections, the impeachment process initiated in the House of Representatives.

The article comes to the following conclusions. The evolutionary development of the free trade agreement (NAFTA), its rejection and acceptance of the USMCA preferential agreement is a gradual and consistent process of protecting North American countries from global market, which started during the presidency of George W. Bush and continued by the subsequent American presidents. This is also connected with the trade war between the United States and China, that was repeatedly emphasized both in the US Administration and in the Congress during D. Trump's presidency. The United States-Canadian relations have worsened significantly, although the countries' leaders do not recognize it publicly during the agreement's preparation and its ratification, for almost three years. The USMCA agreement is not a final version, subject to further ratification. It took more than a year for the parties to find compromise solutions on the USMCA with the protocols' preparation to the agreement and its submission to the national parliaments. Moreover, in the agreed version, the USMCA agreement meets primarily the interests of the United States. The US pressure on Canada was unprecedented. As a result, we should expect the continued growth of political and trade contradictions between the United States and Canada, as well as the revision and addition of new additional agreements in the USMCA agreement.

About the Author

I. A. Sokov
Volgograd State University
Russian Federation

Ilya A. Sokov - Doctor of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor at the Department of International Relations, Political Science and Area Studies

Prospect Universitetskii, 100, Volgograd, 400062



References

1. Komkova E.G. 2005. Kanada i NAFTA. Itogi i perspektivy severoamerikanskoĭ ėkonomicheskoĭ integrat͡sii [Canada and NAFTA. The Results and Perspectives of North American Economic Integration]. Мoscow. 349 p. (In Russian)

2. Komkova E.G. 2019a. S NAFTA i bez nego: gipoteticheskie varianty ėkonomicheskikh posledstviĭ dli͡a SSHA, Kanady i Meksiki [Together or without NAFTA: Hypothetical Options of the Economic Consequences for the United States, Canada and Mexico]. SSHA i Kanada. №3. P. 68-84. DOI: 10.31857/S032120680004156-5 (In Russian)

3. Komkova E.G. 2019b. IUSMKA vmesto NAFTA [USMCA instead of NAFTA]. World Economy and International Relations. 63(4). P. 50-58. DOI: 10.20542/0131-2227-2019-63-4-50- 58 (In Russian)

4. Nemova L.A. 2019. Ėkonomicheskaia situatsiia v Kanade nakanune vyborov 2019 goda [The Economic Situation on the Eve of the 2019 Elections in Canada]. SSHA i Kanada. 49(9). P. 5-14. DOI: 10.31857/S032120680006294-7 (In Russian)


Review

For citations:


Sokov I.A. New in US-Canadian Relations and Ratification of the USMCA Agreement. MGIMO Review of International Relations. 2020;13(5):78-96. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.24833/2071-8160-2020-5-74-78-96

Views: 2059


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.


ISSN 2071-8160 (Print)
ISSN 2541-9099 (Online)