Where is the Money in NAFTA, USMCA, CUSMA, T-MEC?
🌎 Where does the $1.8 trillion in North American trade actually flow?
The renamed trade deal redirects money from cheap labour to higher wages, from Asian supply chains to regional parts makers, and from protected dairy quotas to new exporters.
📖 Key insights:
- Automotive rules of origin rise to 75% – pulling billions in parts contracts back to North America.
- 40‑45% of a car’s value must come from workers earning at least $16/hour, transferring wealth from shareholders to labour.
- Canada opened 3.6% of its dairy market – a small slice of a formerly sealed sector, representing pure revenue transfer.
- Digital trade is tariff‑free, and biologic drugs get 10 years of data protection – delaying cheaper competition.
📖 Read the article
🔗 https://supporttips.com/news/where-is-the-money-in-nafta/
🎧 Listen to the podcast
🔗 https://supporttips.com/media/podcast-26-53-money-in-nafta/
Support Tips.
Support Tips Inc.
Supporttips.com
#supporttips
#st #media #podcast
Source Post:
https://supporttips.com/news/where-is-the-money-in-nafta/
The agreement that replaced NAFTA governs a trading bloc that moves roughly $1.8 trillion in goods and services annually. But nobody can agree on what to call it – Americans say USMCA, Canadians say CUSMA, Mexicans say T‑MEC. This naming dispute is a perfect metaphor: everyone is looking at the same text, but each country sees its own treasure map.
The money is hidden in the fine print. Automotive rules now require 75% regional content (up from 62.5%), redirecting supply chains from Asia back to North America. Even more striking, 40‑45% of a car’s value must be made by workers earning at least $16 per hour – a direct wealth transfer from shareholders and consumers to labour.
Outside factories, the most visceral cash transfer was over Canadian dairy. For decades, Canada’s supply management system kept foreign dairy out. The new deal pried open a fissure: Canada granted tariff‑rate quotas equal to about 3.6% of its milk production. In a sector that was almost completely sealed, this represents pure revenue moving from Canadian dairy farmers to American exporters.
The deal also prohibits customs duties on digital goods – software, streaming, e‑books – and extends biologic drug protection to 10 years, delaying cheaper competition. Perhaps most novel is the “rapid response mechanism”: if a Mexican factory denies workers the right to unionise, its exports can be hit with crippling tariffs. This weaponises trade to redistribute income toward the workforce.
