Auto companies are just paying the 2.5% tariff instead of increased North American sourcing. Trump just tacked on 10% aluminum tariffs with Canada, which retaliated. Not much of a deal after all.
“Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee that oversees trade agreements, had commented, after the initial USMCA negotiation, “You know 95 percent of what we will be voting on is the same as NAFTA.” Further, many of the more significant updates to North American trade rules that showed up in the USMCA were lifted from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) – a trade deal that was waiting for President Trump when he took office and would have governed trade among all three countries. President Trump pulled the United States from the TPP almost immediately, though the other countries went ahead with it. So it’s very hard to argue that USMCA was a major change. Or that it will cure previously-alleged ills.“
All the bluster, threats and boasting and we got next to nothing except more costs to consumers.
