Congress Grows Anxious over USMCA Renewal

[applegrove]

Congress Grows Anxious over USMCA Renewal

June 19, 2026 at 7:17 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 15 Comments

https://politicalwire.com/2026/06/19/congress-grows-anxious-over-usmca-renewal/

“As another round of negotiations to review a North American free-trade deal wraps up in Washington this week, lawmakers are growing more vocal in defense of the deal, and anxious about its future,” the New York Times reports.

“President Trump has said he’s not sure whether he will renew the six-year-old United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. While many view the president’s threats as a negotiating tactic, they are still causing concern among members of Congress whose districts depend on the agreement.”

[Fiendish Thingy]

1. The agreement renews automatically

This angst is all for show.

If nobody does anything, CUSMA is automatically renewed, with annual reviews required, through its expiration date in 2036.

The US must give six months notice to withdraw, Trump just can’t passively wait for the renewal date to pass and claim there no longer is an agreement.