Trump signs USMCA, paving way for job market boom
'We’re restoring America’s industrial might like never before'
President Trump signed the historic United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, replacing the Clinton-era North American Free Trade Agreement that he called a "disaster."
The USMCA, which is the biggest trade deal of all-time, covers more than $1.3 trillion of commerce, and is the second major trade deal secured by the Trump administration this year. The agreement has already been ratified by Mexico, but not yet by Canada.
"You're going to see more jobs all across the economy, in the automobile sector, in the agricultural sector and of course in the energy sector as well," Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette told FOX Business' Maria Bartiromo on Wednesday.
USMCA IS 'GOLD STANDARD FOR DIGITAL TRADE': TRADE CHIEF ROBERT LIGHTHIZER
The USMCA requires 75 percent of automobile components be manufactured in the United States, Canada or Mexico in order to avoid tariffs. By 2023, some 40 to 45 percent of automobile parts must be made by workers who earn at least $16 an hour.
President Donald Trump, joined by from left, Senior adviser to the President, Ivanka Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Calif., and others, signs a new North American trade agreement with Canada and Mexico, during an event at the White House, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)
The agreement is expected to create 80,000 new jobs tied to the auto industry and bring in up to $30 billion of new investment in the sector. The pact will also open new markets for American wheat, poultry and eggs, among other things.
"This is a colossal victory for our farmers and ranchers," Trump said at the signing ceremony. "Everybody said this was a deal that could not be done," he added, "but we got it done."
Once fully implemented, the USMCA is expected to lift U.S. gross domestic product by as many as 1.2 percentage points and create up to 589,000 jobs, according to the International Trade Commission.
After the trade deal was approved by the Senate on Jan. 16, by a vote of 89 to 10, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, hailed it as a "major achievement for President Trump and a very big win for the American people."
The signing of the USMCA comes nearly two weeks after Trump inked an initial trade deal with China. Combined, the two agreements encompass more than $2 trillion worth of trade and could add as much as 1.7 percentage points to U.S. economic growth. The U.S. economy expanded at a 2.1 percent pace in the three months through September.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON FOX BUSINESS
“We’re restoring America’s industrial might like never before,” Trump declared at a campaign rally in Wildwood, N.J., on Tuesday evening. “They’re all coming back. They want to be where the action is.”