Trump says USMCA is meaningless for the US

Summary

President Trump has labeled the USMCA trade agreement as “irrelevant” and “not important” for the United States, suggesting that Canada is the party that truly desires the deal.Reuters These comments were made during a visit to a Ford factory in Michigan, where he advocated for returning manufacturing to the U.S.Reuters The USMCA, which replaced NAFTA in 2020, is scheduled for a mandatory review this year to decide its future.Reuters

Impact Analysis

This isn’t just random noise; it’s the opening shot for the USMCA’s 2026 review. By calling his own signature deal “irrelevant,” Trump is creating leverage and signaling he’s willing to walk away.Reuters He’s framing this as a deal Canada needs, but the U.S. doesn’t, a classic negotiation posture. The market seems to be sleeping on this, but his team has previously floated the idea of scrapping the trilateral pact for bilateral ones. The interesting part is that the trade deficit with Mexico and Canada has actually widened under USMCA, giving him political ammunition to claim it failed. This injects massive uncertainty into the highly integrated North American supply chain, especially for autos. The risk of a full-blown trade disruption is now back on the table. I’d watch the CAD and MXN closely; this rhetoric is a direct threat to them.