USMCA under pressure: Can the trade deal be saved?

This is America, and this is the future of North American trade. Once hailed by Donald Trump as the greatest trade agreement ever negotiated, the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement is now at the centre of a new political and economic battle. Rather than extending the deal for another 16 years, the Trump administration is keeping it under rolling annual reviews, turning uncertainty into a negotiating tool with Canada and Mexico. Supporters say the strategy gives Washington greater leverage to bring manufacturing back to the United States, strengthen supply chains and curb Chinese influence. Critics argue that constantly reopening the agreement undermines business confidence, delays investment and threatens the integrated North American economy that the USMCA was designed to protect. As trade negotiations continue, the programme examines whether uncertainty has become America’s newest economic weapon—and what that could mean for businesses, consumers and the continent’s competitiveness.