Background: Mexico and the USMCA trade agreement
Background
Mexico's trade with its two North American neighbours runs under the USMCA, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. According to the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), the agreement entered into force on 1 July 2020. Before that, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer notified the US Congress that Canada and Mexico had taken the measures needed to comply with their commitments under the agreement, and the United States became the third country to notify the other Parties that it had completed its domestic procedures. This week the United States and Mexico agreed a course of remediation at the Minera Peñasquito mine in Zacatecas under the agreement's Rapid Response Labor Mechanism.
In plain words
USMCA United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement — Trade agreement among the three North American countries, in force since 1 July 2020; called T-MEC in Mexico and CUSMA in Canada.
NAFTA North American Free Trade Agreement — The 1994 trade pact among the US, Mexico and Canada that the USMCA replaced.
USTR Office of the United States Trade Representative — The US government agency that negotiates and enforces US trade agreements.