MEXICO CITY, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- The renegotiated North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between Canada, Mexico and the United States met the goal of benefiting all three partners, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said on Monday.
"The modernization of the trade agreement between Mexico, Canada and the United States caps 13 months of negotiations and achieves what we set out to achieve from the start: a win-win-win agreement," Pena Nieto tweeted.
On Sunday night, the three parties wrapped up a little more than a year of negotiations on the accord initially signed in 1994, adding chapters on e-commerce and other developments in trade over the past two decades, and modifying regulations the U.S. felt contributed to its trade deficit.
Negotiations began in August of 2017, shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump took office pledging to secure a trade agreement more beneficial to U.S. industry.
The new deal, renamed the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), gives U.S. dairy farmers greater access to the Canadian market.
According to the deal, it tightens rules of origin for regional automotive industries by raising the required amount of locally-made content from 62.5 percent to 75 percent.
The agreement also stipulates that at least 70 percent of the steel and aluminum used to make a car must come from North America, and that between 40 and 45 percent of an automobile must be made by workers earning at least 16 U.S. dollars an hour, a demand that low-wage Mexico had been resisting.
The new deal must now be submitted to each country's congress for approval by Nov. 30.
