Canada welcomes the entry into force of the new NAFTA on July 1.

For over 150 years, Canada has had no closer friend and ally than the United States. At home and abroad we work together to make our citizen’s lives safer and more prosperous. The USMCA agreement is the result of extensive negotiations over the past three years, and is an essential pillar in preserving free and fair trade in North America. In addition to greater supply chain integration between our countries, other benefits flowing from this agreement allow for more labour rights and new provisions for the environment and diversity of suppliers.

Canada is Florida’s most important international economic partner, when you combine trade in goods and services, tourism, investment and residential real estate. With a trading relationship of US$9 billion in goods, pre-pandemic, 3.5 million visits of Canadians to Florida in 2018, residential real estate acquisitions of US$6B in 2014-2018, and 500 Canadian companies throughout Florida, Canada remains a significant and dependable partner in maintaining the reliability and security of our supply chains. Now, when our countries are facing uncertain times and economic downturn due to COVID-19, this is the time to reinforce this partnership to make sure those supply chains stay sustainable and the jobs that they create remain in place. Canada and the U.S. cooperatively restricted non-essential traffic across our borders to manage the pandemic, with the border closure now until August 21, but are open for commercial trade to keep our supply chains operating. Canadians share Florida’s desire to reinvigorate its economy and we welcome opportunities to collaborate in old and new ways.

*the “new NAFTA” is known as USMCA in the USA, CUSMA in Canada in English, ACEUM in Canada in French and T-MEC in Mexico in Spanish.