President Trump negotiated USMCA in his first term to replace the disastrous NAFTA deal. Now his team is refusing to rubber-stamp it.

On July 1, 2026, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer issued an official statement on the agreement’s required joint review. The bottom line was simple.

The United States did not agree to renew USMCA in its current form.

This was not an accident or a missed deadline. It was a deliberate move to keep the leverage in American hands and force Canada and Mexico to fix the problems Washington has been complaining about for months.

The U.S. Trade Representative confirmed the joint review took place on schedule, with U.S., Mexican, and Canadian representatives meeting virtually to discuss how the agreement has been working.

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That matters because this was not a random press leak or vague negotiating threat. The agreement itself required the review on July 1, and Greer’s office used that formal checkpoint to say Washington would not renew the deal in its current form.

Greer’s office said the United States would keep engaging with both countries to address the agreement’s shortcomings and the American trade deficits with each of them.

One key detail matters here. USTR made clear the agreement remains in force while these issues get worked out or until termination.

USMCA did not end on July 1. President Trump simply declined to lock it in place as-is, while keeping leverage over the next round of talks.

USTR also said the United States will meet with Mexico the week of July 20 for a third round of bilateral talks tied to the review, which means this fight moves almost immediately from announcement to negotiation.

Fox Business reports the administration plans to seek separate deals with Canada and Mexico rather than continue treating them as one bloc.

That is a smart play. Splitting the partners lets American negotiators press each country on its own bad behavior instead of hiding weak concessions inside a three-way package.

Fox Business also laid out the history for anyone who forgot. USMCA replaced NAFTA, was negotiated during President Trump’s first term, was signed in December 2019, and took effect on July 1, 2020.

The report also keeps the legal status clear: the agreement remains in force while talks continue, so companies that ship goods across North America still have a framework today. That matters because Canada and Mexico remain two of America’s biggest trading partners, so renewal terms ripple across farms, factories, ports, and supply chains.

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At the same time, the politics around the deal have changed. Fox also pointed to broader North American trade concerns, including Canada, China, electric vehicles, and the fear that weak regional rules can be used to sneak foreign advantages into the U.S. market.

The Washington Examiner reports that Trump officials have been in bilateral talks with both countries since President Trump returned to office.

A senior U.S. official told the outlet that trade deficits with the two partners were the main reason for the decision not to renew in current form.

That is the center of the story. The administration is not treating USMCA as a museum piece from President Trump’s first term; it is treating it as a live agreement that still has to serve American workers, farmers, manufacturers, and consumers.

The Examiner also notes the administration can still negotiate and sign a renewal later if the underlying problems get fixed. The door is open, but only on American terms.

That is a very different posture from Washington’s old trade class, which usually treated renewal as the goal and American leverage as the inconvenience.

The New York Post spelled out what non-renewal actually means. It does not trigger instant expiration.

Instead, it kicks off a stretch of continued annual reviews and renegotiation, which keeps the pressure on Ottawa and Mexico City instead of handing them a clean extension.

The Post also listed the sore spots. U.S. officials pointed to Canadian tariffs on American dairy, Mexican interest in tariffs on American corn, and a push for tighter rules on car and industrial-good origin.

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Those details are not small. Dairy hits American farmers, corn hits another core farm constituency, and origin rules decide whether manufacturers can route production through Canada or Mexico while still getting the benefits of a North American trade deal.

There are also loopholes tied to production shifting into Mexico that American negotiators want closed.

That is the core fight: whether USMCA actually protects American production, or whether it becomes another trade deal companies learn to game.

This is exactly how President Trump has always approached trade. He built USMCA to beat NAFTA, and he is not willing to let it drift into a bad deal that quietly bleeds American producers.

Canada keeps barriers on American dairy. Mexico eyes tariffs on American corn while production keeps migrating south through open loopholes.

The old Washington reflex was to sign whatever was on the table and call it free trade. This administration is doing the opposite by keeping the agreement alive while refusing to bless the parts that hurt American workers.

The next test comes the week of July 20, when American and Mexican negotiators sit down again. Canada will be watching closely, because separate deals mean each capital has to answer for its own conduct.

USMCA is still in force, but it is no longer on autopilot. President Trump put the whole arrangement back on the negotiating table, and he holds the stronger hand going in.

This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here.

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