Recent threats by U.S. President Trump to impose 25% tariffs on goods from Canada have raised concerns about the implications of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA). Experts assert that the U.S. can invoke national security as a justification for tariffs, making it difficult for Canada to counteract these actions. Some scholars recommend that the perceived inadequacies within CUSMA indicate a broader dissatisfaction with trade relations, as expressed through the U.S.'s aggressive stance. This situation stresses the fragility of trade agreements when national interests are emphasized over collaborative agreements.
"A trade agreement is just a treaty ... and treaties can be broken," said Gus Van Harten, a professor of trade and investment law at Toronto's York University.
"The reality is that CUSMA ... has a lack of teeth," she said in an interview.
"I would interpret the [threatened] tariffs as a statement that they are tearing up the trade agreement," said Torsten Schting Jaccard, an assistant professor at the University of British Columbia's Vancouver School of Economics.
Amid these tensions, CBC readers have been asking how it's even possible for the U.S. to do this when it signed the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA)...
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