Trump says US would do better without USMCA trade agreement

By Steve Holland and David ‌Shepardson

PARIS/WASHINGTON, June 17 (Reuters) - ​U.S. President ​Donald Trump on Wednesday said that the United States would do better without the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade and that he would prefer not to ‌have a new one, but added that he was open to doing ⁠it.

"I would rather not have the agreement, but I may sign it," Trump told reporters in France. "We do ‌better as a country if ‌we don't have an agreement."

The three countries need to approve a renewal of their existing agreement by July 1 or signal their intention to exit the pact, a ​process that would take 10 years and would buy time for alterations.

The U.S. Trade Representative's Office is holding talks with Mexico this week in Washington focused on agriculture ⁠and "a level playing field," with a third set of talks in Mexico City scheduled for the week of July 20.

Agricultural ​groups are urging Trump to extend USMCA for another 16 years with duty-free farm products, strengthened provisions for genetically modified corn and ethanol ​access in Mexico and improved access to Canada's largely ‌closed dairy market.

Automakers are also pressing for an extension.

"Mexico and the United States seem to understand that North American auto manufacturing and trade ⁠is currently at a competitive disadvantage to other automotive-producing countries that have agreements on Reciprocal Trade, and that the USMCA review and renewal is an opportunity to address this," said Matt Blunt, who ⁠heads a group representing General Motors, Ford Motor and Stellantis.

The six-year-old USMCA and its predecessor pact have ​created a highly integrated North American economy, underpinning nearly $1.6 trillion in annual trilateral trade, but its future hinges on negotiations over the coming months.

The United States in 2025 had a $46 billion trade deficit in ‌goods with Canada and a $197 billion deficit with Mexico.

Mexico has been the top U.S. trading partner since 2023 and some 80% of Mexican ‌exports go to the United States, while nearly 70% of Canada's exports head to its southern ⁠neighbor. Mexico and Canada import nearly ‌one-third of exported U.S. goods.

(Reporting ​by Steve Holland in Paris and David Shepardson in Washington; Additional reporting by Ryan Patrick Jones and Daphne Psaledakis; Editing by Jasper Ward and ‌Stephen Coates)

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