Americans have until November 3 to submit feedback
Americans can have their say about the current United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), and what they’d like to see in an updated version of the trade deal.
The Office of the United States Trade Representative announced on Sept. 16 the public consultation window is officially open in advance of the joint review by the three countries next July.
Citizens have until Nov. 3 to submit comments, and to request to participate in a public hearing about the USMCA.
Overall, the USMCA has proven beneficial to American ag.
Between 2020 when the trilateral agreement came into force, and 2024, U.S. ag exports to Canada increased by more than $7 billion, to $28.4 billion in 2024.
And U.S. agricultural exports to Mexico have increased too.
From 2020 to 2024, American ag has experienced a 64 percent increase in exports to Mexico, from $18.3 billion to $30.3 billion.
The trade agreement hasn’t been without its irritants, however.
As part of the deal, Canada committed to providing U.S. farmers access to about 3.5 percent of its dairy market.
The U.S. has twice taken Canada to a USMCA dispute settlement panel over this issue, claiming Canada isn’t fulfilling its dairy obligations.
In 2021, the panel ruled in favor of the U.S., resulting in Canada revising some of its tariff-rate quota allotments.
But when the U.S. brought up similar concerns in 2023, the panel decided Canada’s policies were in line with the USMCA.
The issue hasn’t gone away, as President Trump has repeatedly targeted Canada’s dairy sector in public and social media comments.
"We have just been informed that Canada, a very difficult Country to TRADE with, including the fact that they have charged our Farmers as much as 400% Tariffs, for years, on Dairy Products, has just announced that they are putting a Digital Services Tax on our American Technology Companies, which is a direct and blatant attack on our Country," the president said in a June 2025 Truth Social post.
Between the U.S. and Mexico, a main ag issue is related to corn.
In 2020, the Mexican government announced its plans to phase out GMO corn and glyphosate by 2024. In 2023, Mexico immediately banned GMO white corn for human consumption.
In 2024, the U.S. took Mexico to a USMCA panel regarding the ban.
The panel decided Mexico’s ban “are not based on science and undermine the market access that Mexico agreed to provide in the USMCA,” a Dec. 2024 USDA statement says.
Mexico officially lifted the restrictions in February 2025.
Soon after, however, Mexico passed a constitutional amendment banning domestic planting of GMO corn.