Trump Hails Revised Nafta Deal as a Trade Promise Kept
The requirement for 75 percent North American content will likely require relatively small adjustments for the three Detroit automakers. Many of their top-selling models — including the Jeep Grand Cherokee, Ford Expedition and F-150, the Chevrolet Silverado — exceed that level already. Some models that don’t are being discontinued, such as the Ford Focus and Taurus.
Determining whether companies comply with the wage requirement will be more complicated because one vehicle can have parts made by dozens of different companies all paying different wages. In general, a large majority of American and Canadian auto-assembly workers earn more than $16 an hour. Suppliers, especially those located in southern states, often pay somewhat less.
The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, the industry’s main lobbying group, said it still has to review the text of the proposed agreement, which has more than 1,000 pages. But the inclusion of Canada was a major step forward. “We have said all along that it is key that the United States, Mexico and Canada maintain this agreement as a trilateral pact,” the organization said.
Markets were pleased to have averted the uncertainty of trade dispute in North America. Stocks rose in early trading in the United States, and the Canadian dollar and the Mexican peso both climbed.
But as lawmakers, trade analysts and industry groups studied the new text, some suggested that it was too soon to celebrate.
The United Steelworkers union urged caution on Monday, lamenting that the Trump administration’s steel and aluminum tariffs had not been lifted as part of the deal. Mexico and Canada say they expect those tariffs to be worked out on a separate track. Also unresolved is whether Canada and Mexico will continue to impose the retaliatory tariffs they placed on American products like whiskey, orange juice and chocolate.
“The key question now is whether this new agreement, when final, will make a measurable difference in workers’ lives and whether workers will have confidence in the new provisions and the commitment of government to enforce those provisions,” said Leo W. Gerard, president of the union.