NAFTA 2.0

The renegotiation and possible termination of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) sparked a lot of interest and concern in light of the United States’ declared objective to “rebalance the benefits” of the agreement. This edited book provides an overview of the changes brought to the NAFTA by the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) or NAFTA 2.0. Grouping leading academics and experts from the three countries, the book covers the major topics in the transition from the NAFTA to the USMCA. The book also sheds light on the evolution of North American economic integration within the past three decades and reflects on the significance of the regional integration model represented by the NAFTA and now the USMCA. The book is aimed at scholars, students, officials, professionals and interested citizens concerned by the big issues surrounding North American integration and economic globalization.

“This book represents the perfect combination of themes and authors, demonstrating the work of diverse generations of intellectuals who are dedicated to analyzing various topics related not only to the USMCA, but also to NAFTA and the WTO. Unlike other books with similar topics, this one has the virtue of examining, with great skill, new issues within free trade agreements, such as environmental and labor aspects, corporate responsibility, digital trade, the challenges of regulation under a cooperation scheme, macroeconomic policy, and the future of investment arbitration mechanisms in light of the reforms proposed by UNCTAD and ICSID. With this analysis, the authors not only reflect on the present day of free trade agreements, but also dare to imagine their future in a landscape marked by global uncertainty.”

— M. Teresa Gutiérrez-Haces, Institute of Economic Research, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico

“Professors Gagné and Rioux have produced a well-organized, well-crafted study of USMCA in the wider context of North American and international trade and investment relations. Its combination of political, economic, and legal scholarship provides a valuable, carefully thought-out set of analyses for scholars and practitioners navigating the litigious world of trade policy in the 2020s.”

— Geoffrey Hale, University of Lethbridge, Canada

“This is the ‘go-to’ volume for those wanting to discover how the original NAFTA of 1994 was reshaped by the USMCA of 2020. Businessmen, officials, and scholars will find succinct chapters on everything important: the political context of renegotiation; automotive trade; cross-border investment; digital trade; novel labor and environment provisions; dispute settlement, health, security, cultural, and indigenous exceptions; and more. The chapters make essential reading on the hits and misses of North American economic integration for the next decade.”

— Gary Clyde Hufbauer, Nonresident Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics, USA

“A book that will answer any question or research query about the new USMCA Agreement. This work constitutes a detailed and ambitious analysis of the most recent trade agreement concluded by the US in its pursuit to ‘rebalance the benefits’. Academics and practitioners guide readers, regardless of their level of expertise, through the novelties of the treaty and the most pressing issues of the North American economic integration process.”

— Gabrielle Marceau, Professor (University of Geneva, Switzerland) and Senior Counsellor (WTO)

 

“This new book by Gilbert Gagné and Michèle Rioux offers the most comprehensive and complete collection of work to date on the NAFTA renegotiation process up to the launch of the USMCA. The reader will be able to know how the old content of NAFTA was renegotiated in thenew agreement and will have a critical vision of the new topics that were included, such as electronic commerce, state companies, macroeconomic and exchange policies, and the new conditions of revision and termination of the USMCA. The book is a must-read for both the specialist and the neophyte who wants to understand the new rules of the game of integration and cooperation in North America.”

— Isidro Morales, Editor in Chief, Latin American Policy

“For better or worse, the United States, Mexico, and Canada recast and replaced in 2020 the controversial North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).  The authors of this timely volume assess how much, or little, has changed in the region’s signature trade deal, and the impact of its rule-making provisions on the three economies. Overall, the new US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) still leaves substantial unfinished business for the North American project.”

— Jeffrey J. Schott, Peterson Institute for International Economics, USA

Gilbert Gagné is Professor and Chair of the Department of Politics and International Studies at Bishop’s University (Sherbrooke, Canada) and Director of the Research Group on Continental Integration (GRIC) at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) (Canada).

Michèle Rioux is Professor in the Department of Political Science at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) (Canada) and Director of the Center for the Study of Integration and Globalization (CEIM) at UQAM.