[CTC] Trump's Plan for the USMCA Review Should Be Made Public

[Arthur Stamoulis]

For Immediate Release

Contact: Arthur Stamoulis, (202) 494-8826 or arthur at citizenstrade.org





*Press Statement:*

*Trump’s Plan for the USMCA Review Should Be Made Public*

*Public Deserves to Know How Proposed Changes Will Ensure that the
President’s Signature Trade Deal Finally Delivers on Promised Benefits for
Working Families*



Washington, D.C. — Citizens Trade Campaign, a coalition of labor and civil
society organizations, is calling for the Trump administration to publicly
release a statutorily-required report to Congress regarding its plan for
the upcoming trinational review of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA)
and account for how proposed changes to USMCA will help turn around the
pact’s flagging outcomes for working people.



“The public deserves to know the President’s plan for ensuring his
signature trade deal finally delivers its promised benefits to working
families,” said Arthur Stamoulis, executive director of Citizens Trade
Campaign, the U.S. coalition of labor, environmental, family farm, faith
and consumer organizations working together since the original 1993 North
American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) debate to improve U.S. trade policy.



“When he first signed the USMCA, President Trump promised it would bring
jobs pouring into the United States.  Instead, five years in, good-paying
jobs continue to be shipped to Mexico to take advantage of ongoing
worker-rights abuses, lax pollution controls and abysmally-low wages and
the U.S. trade deficit with Mexico is way up,” said Stamoulis. “Changes
needed to turn that around include minimum wage standards and tougher labor
and environmental enforcement measures, rather than the giveaways for Big
Tech, Big Pharma and other corporate interests that have dominated the
President’s recent trade announcements.”


The USMCA — which replaced the NAFTA in 2020 — is the largest and
most-comprehensive trade deal of President Trump’s presidencies to
date.  Rather
than balance trade as promised, however, the cumulative U.S. trade deficit
in goods with Mexico and Canada under the first five years under the USMCA
is up 197.2% relative to the five years prior to the agreement taking
effect — which is significantly higher than the increase in U.S. deficit
with the rest of the world over the same period.  Critics also point to
ongoing job offshoring under the agreement; wage stagnation and labor
rights violations; and surges of imports into the United States  of
everything from automobiles to aerospace to agriculture.



The USMCA is currently entering a mandated six-year year review with the
three parties required by July 1, 2026 to decide whether to extend it
as-is, agree to amendments or continue the review and renegotiation process.
  Parties have until 2036 to agree to extend the pact before it terminates.




The Trump administration is required by law to notify Congress of its plans
for the USMCA review within the coming weeks.  As per the USMCA
implementing legislation passed by Congress and signed by President Trump (113
U.S.C. § 611 (2020)
<https://www.congress.gov/116/statute/STATUTE-134/STATUTE-134-Pg11.pdf>),
the U.S. Trade Representative is required to report to appropriate
Congressional committees at least 180 days before trinational review
commences about “the precise recommendation for action to be proposed at
the review and the position of the United States with respect to whether to
extend the term of the USMCA.”  The deadline for that report is January 2,
2026.



In anticipation, civil society groups and policymakers have repeatedly
reached out to the Trump administration with suggestions on what the USMCA
review should prioritize:



·      On June 12, over 680 labor and civil society organizations
<https://www.citizenstrade.org/ctc/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/USMCAReview_OrgSignOnLetter_061225.pdf>
 wrote to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer outlining key changes to
the USMCA needed to “end the offshoring of good-paying jobs,” “raise wages
across the region” and “strengthen rural communities.”



·      On November 3, 105 Congressional Democrats
<https://delauro.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/delauro.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/delauro-usmca-letter-10.27.25.pdf>
 wrote to President Trump with their views on how to address the
shortcomings of the 2020 agreement and deliver its promised benefits to the
American people.  The same day, members of the Congressional Labor Caucus
<https://laborcaucus.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/laborcaucus.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/final-clc-usmca-joint-review-comment-letter-11.3.25.pdf>
 sent the U.S. Trade Representative a similar letter on how to the review
process can “address the continued offshoring of good jobs and critical
productive capacity.” Add Doggett enviro letter with 103 signers?

·      Likewise in November, labor and civil society organizations collected
 roughly 40,000 individual public comments
<https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/stop-trumps-rigged-trade-deal-from-further-hurting-working-people/>calling
for the USMCA to be renegotiated in the interests of working people.

·      The Labor Advisory Committee on Trade Negotiations and Trade Policy
(LAC) <https://comments.ustr.gov/s/commentdetails?rid=WBP29Y7GR6>, United
Auto Workers <https://comments.ustr.gov/s/commentdetails?rid=3TBMQKBP7C>,
International
Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers
<https://comments.ustr.gov/s/commentdetails?rid=X3CRV3CJQC>, Public Citizen
<https://comments.ustr.gov/s/commentdetails?rid=B43HDBRQQX>, Rethink Trade
<https://comments.ustr.gov/s/commentdetails?rid=9D6B9J27CX>, Institute for
Agriculture and Trade Policy
<https://comments.ustr.gov/s/commentdetails?rid=BKH7GWJM8J>, Sierra Club
<https://comments.ustr.gov/s/commentdetails?rid=3TBMQKBP7C> and many others
have also submitted detailed public comments on necessary changes to the
USMCA.



Recent reports suggest
<https://x.com/insidetrade/status/1998570987986489589> the Trump
administration intends to share its USMCA review plans with Congress
orally, but not to publish them in writing for public oversight.



“For too long, trade agreements have been rigged in favor of billionaires
and corporations.  We look forward to a detailed and transparent USMCA
review plan from the administration that articulates how the changes it
proposes will benefit working people, family farmers and communities in all
three countries,” said Stamoulis.



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