Just two months before the United States, Canada and Mexico are to complete the joint review of their trade agreement, the California Chamber of Commerce has written to encourage the California congressional delegation to support the original July 1 review deadline of the pact.
The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which took effect on July 1, 2020, has created a stable and certain commercial environment that reinforces strong economic ties and enhances North American competitiveness in the global market — thereby ensuring North American economic security, which leads to geopolitical security.
The six-year USMCA joint review is to be completed by July 1, 2026, according to the pact. While negotiations between the U.S. and Mexico and the negotiations between Canada and Mexico are underway, the negotiations between the U.S. and Canada have been stalled.
Beneficial Agreement
Since the early 1990’s, CalChamber has supported the concept and establishment of a North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) based upon an assessment that it serves the employment, trading and environmental interests of California and the United States, as well as Canada and Mexico, and is beneficial to the business community and society as a whole.
That support continued during the first Trump administration when the United States, Mexico, and Canada reached an agreement to modernize the 25-year-old NAFTA into a 21st century, high-standard agreement.
The USMCA has been a necessary modernization to the NAFTA that recognizes the impact of technology on the three countries’ economies. There were new chapters on goods regulatory practices, digital trade, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the environment, and labor. In total there were 34 chapters: 10 new chapters and 24 modernized chapters.
California’s economy is diverse, and the state’s prosperity is tied to exports and imports of both goods and services by California-based companies, to exports and imports through California’s transportation gateways, and to movement of human and capital resources. International trade and investment are major parts of the state’s economic engine that broadly benefit businesses, communities, consumers and state government.
California is proof positive of that formula. California’s gross domestic product (GDP) tops $4 trillion, placing California behind only the United States, China, Germany and Japan in global rankings. In 2025, California exported $188.40 billion in goods to more than 225 foreign economies. California’s top export markets are Mexico, Canada, Taiwan, Japan, China.
USMCA Statistics
The United States, Canada and Mexico comprise more than 520 million people (6.3% of the world’s population), more than $33 trillion in gross domestic product (GDP) (nearly 30% of world GDP), and $1.8 trillion in goods and services trade (5.5% of $33 trillion in total global trade).
More than 13 million American jobs depend on trade with Mexico and Canada. The USMCA provides duty-free access for nearly all goods traded among the three countries.
The importance of total U.S.-USMCA goods trade at $1.59 trillion cannot be overstated. The total of $667.76 billion in exports to Mexico and Canada includes transportation equipment ($105.8 billion), computer and electronic products ($97.70 billion), chemicals ($65.78 billion), non-electrical machinery ($58.37 billion), and petroleum and coal products ($42.60 billion).
Total U.S. imports from Mexico and Canada of $917.83 billion include transportation equipment ($222.71 billion); computer and electronic products ($149.92 billion); oil and gas ($104.95 billion); electrical equipment, appliances and components ($56.29 billion); and non-electrical machinery ($52.90 billion).
CalChamber Position
The CalChamber continues to believe the USMCA supports mutually beneficial trade leading to freer markets, fairer trade, and robust economic growth in North America.
The original key provisions of the USMCA — including focus on rules of origin, goods market access, intellectual property modernization, ease of customs and trade rules for small business, greater market access for American agriculture, strong disciplines on digital trade, and enforceable labor standards — are as important to the agreement today as they were when first implemented. Through all these provisions should run the continued theme of compliance and enforcement.
The CalChamber believes in strengthening economic ties and enhancing regulatory cooperation through agreements like the USMCA. Such agreements with our top trading partners that encompass both goods and services are essential to eliminating unnecessary regulatory divergences that may act as a drag on economic growth and job creation.
The CalChamber, in keeping with longstanding policy, supports expansion of international trade and investment, fair and equitable market access for California products abroad, and elimination of disincentives that impede the international competitiveness of California business.
The CalChamber seeks commercially meaningful outcomes in negotiations with regions around the world and supports bilateral, regional and multilateral trade agreements, which are critical to consumers, workers, businesses, farmers and ranchers, and would allow the United States to compete with other countries that are negotiating agreements with each other.
The CalChamber urges the Trump administration to complete the engagement with Mexico and Canada and swiftly extend the USMCA, especially in light of China’s growing influence in the region. In fact, it is hoped that the continued success of the USMCA may serve as a foundation for future trade agreements around the world.
The CalChamber is asking the California congressional delegation to support this endeavor as well.
